Prototype hypersonic hardware delivered to unit on JBLM

The delivery of the first prototype hypersonic hardware to Soldiers of the 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Field Artillery Brigade is completed on Oct. 7, 2021, with a ceremony at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Karleshia Gater)

SMD 2022 — The US Army plans to deliver the first live rounds of its hypersonic missile in “roughly” six months, according to the three-star overseeing the effort.

The Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office has been rapidly developing the land-based, ground-launched Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon, one of the service’s top 35 modernization priorities, with the goal of deploying an operational capability in fiscal 2023.

“We start delivering those live rounds, I’ll just roughly say, in about six months,” Lt. Gen. Neil Thurgood said during a presentation at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Ala. “And as we finish that design of the round itself, is there a risk associated with that? Absolutely. Can we afford to wait? Absolutely not.”

Last September, the Army delivered the hypersonic battery to soldiers with I Corps’ 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Field Artillery Brigade at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. That equipment included a battery operations center, four transporter erector launchers and modified trucks and trailers. Each launcher holds two rounds.

Delivering the equipment more than a year ahead of the live rounds has allowed soldiers to get a head start on training, including loading and unloading the equipment on C-130s. Most recently, the unit completed a simulated live fire event with US Indo-Pacific Command and the theater fires center to practice working through the fires kill chain — running through it eight times.

“Traditionally in materiel programs, you kind of have the big bang theory — produce everything, get everything in place and give it to the unit. We didn’t,” Thurgood said. “We chose a different approach, get the unit ready, train to get them to use it and then eventually give them live rounds.”

The LRHW, which can fly at least 1,725 miles, is part of the Army’s long-range fires modernization priority, along with the Precision Strike Missile, Extended Range Cannon Artillery and Mid-Range Capability.

The Army is partnered with the Navy on the Common Hypersonic Glide Body, which the sea service will use for its Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic weapon. The Navy will field its first live rounds in FY25 as the Army buys its second LRHW battery.

The Army requested $249 million in LRHW procurement funding in its FY23 budget, to support production of the second battery of the LRHW not later than than the fourth quarter of FY25. The LRHW program is scheduled to transition to the Army’s Program Executive Office Missiles and Space acquisition office in Fy24.