First live rounds of Army’s hypersonic weapon coming in ‘roughly’ 6 months
Soldiers are already training on the hypersonic battery equipment to prepare for delivery of the missile.
Soldiers are already training on the hypersonic battery equipment to prepare for delivery of the missile.
In addition to the directed energy system for the Stryker, the Army is looking at a small laser for a smaller vehicle.
The service remains on pace to field an offensive hypersonic unit by fiscal 2023, general says.
"I'm here today to tell you that our future is not our past. It's time to change our future, and we change our future by how we behave. And we can do hard things, we can be successful at wicked hard problems," Army Lt. Gen. Neil Thurgood said.
Weapons from hypersonics to howitzers have key deadlines to meet next year to keep to the Army’s ambitious timeline, Lt. Gen. Neil Thurgood and Brig. Gen. John Rafferty tell Breaking Defense.
The modestly named “Mid-Range Capability” will hit targets more than one thousand miles away, Lt. Gen. Neil Thurgood tells me. But the brand-new program needs reprogramming authority from Congress to catch up to other Army missiles already in flight tests.
Experimental AI software, Prometheus and SHOT, can turn masses of data – from both government and commercial satellites – into precise targets for long-range missiles and cannon. But what do the humans do?
THOR puts high-powered microwaves to fry drone swarms' electronics in a rugged and deployable package.
The first four flight tests – one a failure -- took nine years. The next five will take less than three years.
The two services will use the same rocket booster and glide body, just packaged differently to fire from trucks vs. ships, with the Army version entering service in 2023.
Research and development spending on hypersonics will nearly double in ‘21, and it will triple for lasers, as the service rushes to deploy combat-ready prototypes.
The Army Modernization Strategy aims to counter Russia by 2028 and China by 2035 — but Congress can’t pass a budget for this year.
Dynetics will build the Common Glide Body for both the Army and Navy, which Lockheed will integrate into full-up weapons for the first Army battery by 2023.
Innovators who put forward the most promising white papers will be invited to pitch their idea to officials representing not only the Army but the other services, the joint Combatant Commands, and independent organizations like the Missile Defense Agency.