Current US hypersonic weapons projects. (General)

USAF expands hypersonic efforts with plans for another prototype

The USAF has announced plans to commence a hypersonic cruise missile prototype programme on behalf of the DoD, in an effort to foster a scramjet industrial base and diversify the fledgling portfolio of ultra-fast manoeuvring weapons beyond the current hypersonic boost-glide programme.

On 28 April, the air force published a notice announcing plans for a ‘future hypersonic weapon’ programme, asking industry for proposals to support the goal of a new air-breathing weapon powered by a supersonic combustion ramjet — or scramjet — that could be ready for preliminary design review by Q4 in FY2021.

‘We’re excited about the potential to start that programme,’ Dr Will Roper, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, told reporters on 29 April. ‘Scramjet is much more mature and ready to go than I originally thought, so we’re preparing to begin a hypersonic cruise missile programme.’

The latest development comes as the USAF narrowed its hypersonic boost-glide prototyping efforts from two to one in February, favouring the smaller of the two candidate weapons: the Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon.

‘We will leverage work that is currently ongoing in DARPA as well as our own research laboratory,’ Roper explained, referring to the Hypersonic Air Breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC). ‘And the goal is to do what we did with boost-glide technology: get technology out of our laboratories and to help industry start to get ready for production.’

He added that recent advances in scramjet design and fabrication inform his confidence about launching a new programme.

‘I expect that we’ll be able to go pretty quickly on this,’ Roper said. “I don’t expect to be wrong on that.’
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I've not heard of an airborne test, but supposedly there have been ground tests using supersonic wind tunnels that were very successful. Both competitors apparently use 3D printed combustion chambers for their designs, which would allow for quick development iterations and simplification of manufacturing. This apparently also saves a lot of weight and space. So with all of those items taken together, the USAF seems to feel that air breathing hypersonics are much more accessible than previously thought.
 
Both HAWC prototypes will be tested soon. Raytheon’s contract for Phase II of the program extends till September while Lockheed’s extends a few months beyond that. A Q4 FY21 PDR( what the AF wants) for the scramjet weapon would be consistent with a rapid prototyping program that were leveraging what the two teams had demonstrated in FY20 flight demonstration. Assuming they begin their contracting activity in FY21, we can expect something to come out by FY25 ish.
 
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BTW, do we have comparable topic for non-US hypersonics? Realised that there is no apparent place to post about recent test of HV missile from Tu-22M3M
 
Flyaway said:
Via NSF.

SAM.gov

beta.sam.gov beta.sam.gov
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Topic of link:
The novel NASA Glenn design replaces a conventional jet engine with a linear array of flapping blades and diffusing vanes for compression, a combustor, and a linear array of expansion ducts. These expansion ducts convert thermal energy to magnetic energy using reverse magnetic hyperthermia where the turbine ducts are lined with superparamagnetic composites that respond to thermal loads by generating alternating magnetic fields. The magnetic energy can be used to drive the electromagnetic actuators required for flapping. Kinetic energy is delivered to the air using rapid oscillations rather than by rotation. This is converted to internal energy by the vanes.


I'm not sure if this thing is intended for hypersonic speeds.
 
They state from subsonic to supersonic flow what will be comparable with a ramjet/scramjet. The diffuser/compressor inlet will ensure that high Mach inflow is slowed down properly.

The matrix of exhaust nozzles could also generate electrical power for the aircraft systems.
 
Any more info on the 'super duper'?


"We have no choice, we have to do it with the adversaries we have out there. We have, I call it the super duper missile and I heard the other night [it’s] 17 times faster than what they have right now,” the president said, sitting at the Resolute Desk.

“That’s right,” said the defense secretary, Mark Esper, standing to Trump’s right.

“You take the fastest missile we have right now,” Trump said. “You heard Russia has five times and China’s working on five or six times, we have one 17 times and it’s just got the go-ahead.”
 
jstar said:
Any more info on the 'super duper'?

"We have no choice, we have to do it with the adversaries we have out there. We have, I call it the super duper missile and I heard the other night [it’s] 17 times faster than what they have right now,” the president said, sitting at the Resolute Desk.

“That’s right,” said the defense secretary, Mark Esper, standing to Trump’s right.

“You take the fastest missile we have right now,” Trump said. “You heard Russia has five times and China’s working on five or six times, we have one 17 times and it’s just got the go-ahead.”
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Probably Prompt Global Strike
 
I bet 5,6, and 17 are Mach numbers, which lines up with air-breathing hypersonics (Mach 5-6) and ICBM-range glide vehicles (Mach 17). Of course Russia already has an ICBM-range glide vehicle (Avangard) and all three countries have ICBMs which reenter at around Mach 20. And no we are not getting a Mach 340 "super duper" missile.
 
Griffin: DARPA hypersonic projects 'going well' despite delayed flight tests
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's two high-profile hypersonic weapon technology efforts -- one a boost-glide vehicle the other an air-breathing missile -- are both "going well" despite an apparent delay in planned first flight tests, according to the Pentagon's top technology official
 
That has to be the only time "hypersonic" and "loiter" were used in the same program description...
 
Josh_TN said:
That has to be the only time "hypersonic" and "loiter" were used in the same program description...
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I've seen similar ideas before though. The setup is that you lob a very fast bus vehicle into the area based on time-sensitive intelligence. It then kicks out a few loitering weapons that can wait a bit to see if the target develops as expected. So, for example, you hear that Bin Laden is leaving his cave in the next hour and you have nothing currently on station. But you don't know exactly when he's leaving and you don't have a source that will tell you instantly when he pops his head out. So you shoot your hypersonic bus, get on station in 20 minutes, then the payload loiters for the next hour and caps anyone who shows up.

Edit: I think it's worth noting that this is a pretty damned rare scenario.
 
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