Hypersonic missile failures cast doubt on US bid to catch up with China and Russia after Pentagon awarded $1 billion development contract to Lockheed Martin
- The US-developed hypersonic missiles have failed three consecutive tests
- The program must complete two successful tests by June 30 to stay on schedule
- The Pentagon hopes to have the weapons, and a production contract, ready by September 30, a deadline that experts call ‘aggressive’ and ‘challenging’
- The weapons are being developed with Lockheed Martin, which was awarded an initial development contract back in 2018
- The cost of that contract is expected to balloon up to $1.4bn from $480 million
The US is unlikely to meet its deadline of having combat-ready hypersonic weapons by the end of September after three consecutive failed tests, experts say. The Department of Defense planned to have the weapons, along with an approved production partner, ready by September 30. That seems increasingly unlikely given that the Pentagon and the weapon’s developer, Lockheed Martin, would have to complete two successful tests of the missile’s booster motor by June 30 in order to stay on schedule. Hypersonic missiles are dropped from bomber jets and can travel up to 15 times faster than the speed of sound. They can also be steered in-flight toward a target, making them more precise and harder to shoot down. The development of hypersonic missiles has led to an arms race between the US, China and Russia. Last month, Russia said that it test-fired a hypersonic missile, according to Bloomberg. In December, Chinese researchers claimed to have developed technology to allow a hypersonic missile to find a target based on its heat signature, according to the South China Morning Post. Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee, a Democrat, says the continued delays pose a problem for US competitiveness. ‘The US has a lot of catching up to do with China,’ Cooper said. ‘It will take much more than a Sept. 30 press release to regain the lead we’ve squandered since the 1970s.’ The hypersonic development effort needs ‘funding, engineering excellence, and rapid testing to begin to reach parity. Even then, I worry that the US doesn’t even know how to catch up, particularly given the repeated failures’ with the missile program that ‘we’ve had to date on components that should not be technically challenging,’ he added. The hypersonic weapons being developed by the US are intended to be dropped from B-52H bomber jets and accelerated by a booster, which later detaches and allows the missile to fly at hypersonic speeds.
The three test failures so far involved the performance of the booster after it is dropped from the jet, but before the booster detaches.
The weapon is being developed with Maryland-based engineering firm Lockheed Martin, which was awarded an initial development contract of $480 million in 2018 that grew to $986 million in December 2019. The development phase is now expected to cost about $1.4 billion. The timing of the next two tests depend on the results of a failure review for the third test, which should’ve been done by the end of last month, the Air Force program office told Bloomberg. If the fourth and fifth tests are successful, they would be followed by a flight test of a fully operational missile between July and September. The government would then need to review Lockheed’s ability to manufacture its order before a full contract is awarded. A production decision on the first 12 missiles, which was planned for January, is on hold pending results of a December failure review, the two extra booster tests and the full-missile flight. A spokesperson for Heidi Shyu, the Pentagon’s undersecretary for research and engineering, said she’s ‘supportive of the Air Force’s aggressive efforts to accelerate development,’ but that ‘the Sept. 30 operational capability date is a very aggressive schedule.’ The Air Force also said it ‘will not award a production contract without a Production Readiness Review and a successful All Up Round Test Flight. ‘To date, the team has not found any systemic quality issues at Lockheed or its subcontractors’ that caused the test failures. Kelly Sayler, an analyst in advanced technology, told Bloomberg that the time between now and September 30 ‘leaves little to no room for test delays or additional flight failures, and so it will likely be challenging.’ The Air Force itself said it ‘continues to aggressively pursue’ an early operational capability ‘while maintaining high standards of technical rigor.’ The branch hasn’t yet said how many weapons it plans to buy or how much they will cost in total. In December, researchers from China’s National University of Defence Technology claimed to have developed technology to allow a hypersonic missile to find a target based on its heat signature. According to research cited by the South China Morning Post, lead scientist Professor Yi Shihe claimed in a scientific paper in the Chinese peer-reviewed journal Air and Space Defence that China had made a ‘series of core technology breakthroughs that were proven effective in tests’. If true, it means China may have overcome the difficulty of developing a heat-seeking system which capable of of working at hypersonic speeds. The feat is a challenge because the pace of the missile itself generates heat which can interfere with the detection systems. The development, which is likely to add intensity to the ongoing arms race between China, the US and Russia, came after Beijing denied testing a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August. The projectile, which circled the planet, sparked concerns among officials in the US, but China insisted the missile launch was for a spacecraft. Hypersonic missiles can reach speeds of up to 21,000 mph and can strike anywhere on Earth from space within minutes. NN: I spilled my Green Tea when i saw the story of the deployment of a hypersonic missle in the Ukraine. Ring ring goes the phone…. Sergio is it true… Yes comrade think of it as a coming out party. You need to know what they are forget to tell you. These advanced technology missiles can be nuclear tipped. They can hit any spot on the planted in under 20 minuets if launched from a fighter jet. If launched from space they can hit any target in 2 minutes. But it gets worse they are not only unstoppable but undetectable by infrared, thermal and back scatter radar systems the most advanced we have.