{"id":1722570,"date":"2022-11-03T06:30:23","date_gmt":"2022-11-03T10:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1722570"},"modified":"2022-11-03T07:20:32","modified_gmt":"2022-11-03T11:20:32","slug":"u-s-navy-trumpets-hypersonic-missile-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/u-s-navy-trumpets-hypersonic-missile-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Navy Trumpets Hypersonic Missile Progress"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fu-s-navy-trumpets-hypersonic-missile-progress%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1722570&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/QRHDRLO7ENBQHDRQRM6RNRNGXQ.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">ARLINGTON, Va. \u2014 The head of the U.S. Navy\u2019s Strategic Systems Programs office is confident the service can field hypersonic weapons on a Zumwalt-class destroyer in 2025 and on a Virginia-class submarine in 2029 despite the significant workload that remains.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe said \u201ctime is not our friend\u201d as the Navy races to finish hypersonic missile development alongside the Army by 2023. Next up is designing and testing the integration between the missile and USS Zumwalt\u2019s hull and combat system ahead of a 2025 shipyard period where the weapon will be backfit onto the large destroyer. In parallel, engineers must work through the physics of launching the weapon from under the sea ahead of a 2029 fielding on Virginia-class submarines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">The Navy had previously said the Virginia-class submarines would field the hypersonic weapon, which the Navy calls Conventional Prompt Strike, in 2028. The new date is due to a delay in the planned delivery of the first submarine that will house the large missile \u2014 the future Arizona, the first submarine with the Virginia Payload Module \u2014 not a delay in the missile development itself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">On the hypersonic weapon, Wolfe said the Navy and Army are in a good place leading up to the Army\u2019s debut next year. He said he was optimistic about how much the services had learned so quickly, despite two live flight tests over the past year that fell short of their full testing goals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">Wolfe claimed success or failure was in the eye of the beholder: the two services have added stretch goals to each of their missile flight tests, so even when a flight doesn\u2019t meet its full objectives, engineers are still learning much faster than they would under a traditional acquisition and test program.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">\u201cIf we\u2019re going to go fast, and we\u2019re going to deploy a system that, quite frankly, we just decided in 2018 that we were going to put in warfighters\u2019 hands \u2026 we\u2019re going to have to lean forward, and we\u2019re going to have to take risk,\u201d he said in remarks at the Naval Submarine League\u2019s annual conference here.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">In a June test called Joint Flight Campaign-1, officials wanted to test the new rocket motor booster stack developed by the Navy. The services decided to also integrate the weapon\u2019s glide body, which had already been proven in previous testing, into the setup. Wolfe said the stack worked well and both stages lit off successfully. However, he added, the test weapon did not reach its target due to an unexpected integration issue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">\u201cWithin seven weeks of that flight, we had identified what the issue was, we had developed a corrective action, and it is already in the next round that we\u2019re going to fly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">Lt. Gen. Robert Rasch, who runs the Army\u2019s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/ausa\/2022\/10\/14\/us-army-plans-two-more-tests-of-hypersonic-missile-ahead-of-fielding\/\">previously told Defense News<\/a> that \u201cif we would have just declared that all we were going to do was just to shoot up a missile stack, it would have been 100% a success.\u201d Rather, he said, \u201cgiven the rarity of these events, we always have stretch learning goals,\u201d and that\u2019s where the flight test fell short.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">Wolfe also addressed an October 2021 test, Flight Test-3. He said the Army wanted to get additional data to supplement a separate flight test and decided to connect the hypersonic glide body to an old booster stack that had been sitting around. The booster stack had problems and caused the test to fail, but Wolfe said the Army learned a lot during the test, contributing to this development program moving quickly.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption class=\"image__Caption-sc-23pfqr-0 bJsBbG a-caption\">\n<p class=\"ImageMetadata__MetadataParagraph-sc-1gn0vty-0 eGGFoB image-metadata\"><span>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. (Spc. Karleshia Gater\/US Army) <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">The Army will field the weapon next year using a hot launch method from ground-based launchers: the rocket motor will light off immediately, creating a hot cloud of gas near the ground.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">Because that hot launch is incompatible with Navy ships, a key effort ahead of 2025 is working through a different in-air launch capability for the hypersonic missiles coming off Zumwalt destroyers. Pressurized air pushes the weapon out of the missile tube and up to a great enough height that the missile can light off without hurting the ship.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">Wolfe said the Navy has already shown in testing that it can do this.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">Launching from undersea is even trickier: the missile has to exit a submarine\u2019s missile tube, shoot to the surface and up into the air, and then light off while airborne.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">Wolfe said the Navy is building its underwater launch test facility in Crane, Ind., already, which will help the service understand the hydrodynamics of the missile pushing through the launcher and the water on its way to the air. The vice admiral noted that a similar mechanism is already in place for the Trident nuclear weapon program shot from ballistic missile submarines and for the Tomahawk missile shot from guided-missile submarines, so he said the fundamentals are there to inform this in-water launch capability for Conventional Prompt Strike.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption class=\"image__Caption-sc-23pfqr-0 bJsBbG a-caption\">\n<p class=\"ImageMetadata__MetadataParagraph-sc-1gn0vty-0 eGGFoB image-metadata\"><span>A common hypersonic glide body (C-HGB) launches from Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii, at approximately 10:30 p.m. local time, March 19, 2020, during a Department of Defense flight experiment. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy) <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">The Navy will also have to figure out how to incorporate the hypersonic weapon\u2019s combat system, which the Army will field next year, into the combat systems that already exist on Zumwalt destroyers and Virginia submarines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">\u201cWe are well on our way because the Army needs it first next year, and one of our tests that we\u2019ve got coming up here in the next year will be with a combat system that will deploy with the Army,\u201d Wolfe said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">From there, the Navy will figure out if that system can be fully integrated into the ships\u2019 combat systems or if it will have to be kept as a stand-alone weapon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">In summarizing the work ahead, Wolfe said no single engineering effort was especially difficult or worrisome, but rather a lot of work exists and the Navy is on tight timelines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s all about schedule. We understand what the payload tubes look like. \u2026 We\u2019re building those for what we\u2019re going to put on Virginia, what we\u2019re going to put on Zumwalt,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it\u2019s just schedule that we\u2019re fighting with right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"default__Wrapper-cy7r53-1 iWrUWb\">\n<p class=\"default__BioWrapper-cy7r53-0 duEMsg a-body2\">Megan Eckstein is the naval warfare reporter at Defense News. She has covered military news since 2009, with a focus on U.S. Navy and Marine Corps operations, acquisition programs and budgets. She has reported from four geographic fleets and is happiest when she\u2019s filing stories from a ship. Megan is a University of Maryland alumna.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ARLINGTON, Va. \u2014 The head of the U.S. Navy\u2019s Strategic Systems Programs office is confident the service can field hypersonic weapons on a Zumwalt-class destroyer in 2025 and on a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1722573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1722570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1722570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1722570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1722570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1722573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1722570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1722570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1722570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}