Hypersonic weapons soon could fire from surface warships to destroy enemy targets from standoff distances
WASHINGTON – Hypersonic weapons soon could fire from U.S. Navy destroyers and take off from surface warships at five times the speed of sound from deck-mounted Vertical Launch Systems, fire from bomber aircraft, and shoot up from the ground near the boundaries of space. Kris Osborn at The National Interest reports. https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/us-navy-destroyers-could-soon-fire-hypersonic-weapons-174860
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
13 Jan. 2021 -- One in particular is the Tactical Boost Glide (TBG) program of the U.S. Air Force and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). This project consists of a high-speed rocket that separates from the hypersonic payload, which then glides unpowered to its destination.
What would it mean for a Navy ship to have this kind of range and strategic attack envelope? Surely sit would enable surface warships to destroy enemy land, sea, and air targets operating at otherwise unreachable distances or traveling at speed quite difficult to track.
A hypersonic weapon not only could destroy land targets, but also hit fighter jets flying faster than the speed of sound. This expands the operational scope of Navy ships and favors coordinated networked offensive weapons fired from standoff distances safe from enemy fire.
Related: DARPA eyes bistatic sonar with UUV-based pingers to preserve stealth of attack submarines
John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics
