Current US hypersonic weapons projects. (General)

We never did figure out what HCCW was. HACM is now firmly out of the black, but we never even figured out what hCCW stood for…
 
bobbymike said:
Starship loaded with 100 1k lbs RVs would be a nice capability
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For sure but at today it don't work very well :D Rumors is Lockheed have a ISR something in work at a classified level may be it is something like that. It could be part of the Golden dome with some space based interceptor concept. EWNV-AMXsAE8Jta.jpg
 
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Josh_TN said:
It’s just fan fiction. The USAF is struggling just to build a new fighter.
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We know nothing about the Lockheed or USAF black programs a lot is possible behind the wall. A lot is surely done since the Darpa Falcon hypersonic of 2006, now Darpa have a new one with the NEXTrs we absolutly dont know where they are with the hypersonics technology we can speculate but for sure a lot of work have been done since 2006.
 
I think sometimes our optimism can blur our vision. I’ve generally been a technological optimist thinking “there has to be, half a trillion plus black budget over the decades later, something out there”

One of the “optimistic fallacies” I fall into is “the reason they’re debating the form and function of 6th Gen aircraft is there’s a plane so advanced in the black we should wait for that”

Unfortunately my thinking is becoming more pessimistic that we can’t do a lot of the things we did before, anymore, ships, aircraft, ICBMs, etc.
 
bobbymike said:
Unfortunately my thinking is becoming more pessimistic that we can’t do a lot of the things we did before, anymore, ships, aircraft, ICBMs, etc.
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I'd be happy if the US can churn out ships like they used to. But even that is too much of an ask with how the industry have degraded.

In an alternate universe the US never saw the devastating changes brought by the immediate 90s era. The first men and women would be exploring Mars and space warfare comes as a nice bonus. Reality? Wall Street wants to wave stock evaluation papers around to beat the centuries-worth oil storage under mega industrialized Russia?

SRAM took 8 years from contract formulation to operational fielding. ARRW is cancelled after 6 years but the glider is already over a decade old. And now we have nearly zero nuclear SOW for the B-2/21 force. Politicians like to point out how some weapon will cost billions to develop and billions to field. Yet they neglect to mention how crucial the fielding of those weapons to the security of those billions of dollars or how some social welfare program is still practiced despite demonstrated futility, programs that cost multiple magnitudes more than the "scary rockets".
 
Defense Updates has put out a video about whether or not the Dark Eagle will be a game-changer for the US:


After years of delays and technical challenges, the U.S. Army is gearing up to deploy its much-anticipated "Dark Eagle" long-range hypersonic weapon (LRHW) by the end of fiscal year 2025. This update follows a recent U.S. congressional report, confirmed by a defense official to Defense News, stating that the Army aims to field the first LRHW unit within the next year.
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The original plan was to equip the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Field Artillery Brigade at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, with the LRHW by fall 2023. However persistent issues with the launcher and launch sequence forced the Army to push back its timeline. A government watchdog report previously pointed to these technical difficulties as a major factor behind the delays, noting that while the missile itself remained functional, complications with the firing mechanism and range conditions led to several aborted tests.
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In this video, Defense Updates analyzes why the “Dark Eagle” long-range hypersonic weapon (LRHW) will be a game changer for the US military?
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#defenseupdates #darkeagle #LRHW
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Chapters:
0:00 TITLE
00:11 INTRODUCTION
02:07 DARK EAGLE
03:40 CAPABILITIES
05:51 ANALYSIS
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Gen. James Rainey, the head of Army Futures Command said it must stop buying equipment that is "expensive but not exquisite" and also doesn't "provide a lot of mass, primarily in the air defense and the offensive fires is where that analogy holds the most true, but gave few specifics of what equipment falls into each spending category though it should acquire “cheap rockets that we can buy in the hundreds” for air defense.

Would his criteria if were applied today think the hypersonic Dark Eagle missile would be cancelled ASAP, as very expensive ($60 million ea.?) and no chance of manufacturing / buying in the hundreds.

Rainey: Army must avoid spending money on equipment that is neither 'exquisite' nor cheap | InsideDefense.com

The Army must stop buying equipment that is "expensive but not exquisite" and also doesn't "provide a lot of mass," Gen. James Rainey, the head of Army Futures Command said today.
insidedefense.com insidedefense.com
 
Cordy said:
Gen. James Rainey, the head of Army Futures Command said it must stop buying equipment that is "expensive but not exquisite"
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That is stopping this "Gold-plating" nonsense and start designing and building weapons that are "Good enough to do the job", stuff which can be mass-produced.
 
Re: Kratos Hypersonics

Kratos is an interesting one to me. $KTOS has popped huge, with a market cap of $4.92B and P/E of 301.43 (as of this writing). Quarterly revenue is ~$280M. Net is $4M. Even with the most advanced hypersonic technology and Valkyries in the world, they are still a target drone company, and have a footprint as such. In other words, I question the scalability of whatever they're developing.
 
SlothmanAllen said:
Anybody have access to Aviation Week so they can fill us in on the rest of the information?
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"Bleeding edge" LOL
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Kratos is developing a hypersonic drone, adding to a growing portfolio of high-speed vehicles, CEO Eric DeMarco told Aviation Week in a March 18 interview.

All further details of the project—including the design, performance and schedule—cannot yet be released, DeMarco said.

The mystery vehicle can be supported by the Hypersonic System Indiana Payload Integration Facility (IPIF) that the company broke ground on in Crane, Indiana, on March 18.

Asked if the IPIF would support only payloads for hypersonic glide vehicles powered by solid rocket motors, DeMarco said vehicles with air-breathing propulsion technologies also are possible.


DeMarco previously has hinted at interest by Kratos in turbine-based hypersonic propulsion. In a 2019 press release announcing the acquisition of Florida Turbine Technologies (now Kratos Turbine Technologies, or KTT), DeMarco included a cryptic statement.

“Beyond traditional turbojet and turbofan engines, we are also focused on developing advanced, affordable engines for a new class of hypersonic propulsion system,” DeMarco said.

DeMarco has never elaborated on that statement. However, as its name implies, KTT specializes in air-breathing, turbine-based propulsion systems, not the solid rocket motors that boost hypersonic glide vehicles to hypersonic speed.

Kratos already has built a hypersonic portfolio with a pair of hypersonic glide vehicles called Erinyes and Dark Fury. Both can be powered by Kratos’ new Zeus rocket, an offshoot from the company’s Oriole sounding rocket.

Hypersonic technology—and air-breathing propulsion in particular—remains mainly at the developmental stage in the U.S. industrial base, with the operational Lockheed Martin/Leidos Long Range Hypersonic Weapon for the U.S. Army being the sole exception.

Despite the advanced nature of the technology, Kratos remains committed to avoid crossing the “bleeding-edge” of capability in new products. The company prefers to work on fixed-price contracts, and the risk of overruns with inventing new technology are too high for Kratos, with its $1.1 billion of annual sales, to bear.

“Bleeding edge—something that’s never been done before—those are the types of fixed-price contracts that we tend to stay away from because it’s never been done before,” DeMarco said at the McAleese Defense Programs Conference outside Washington on March 18. “We don’t have the size or the scale like a Boeing to be able to absorb and get the thing done for an amount of money. That’s just crazy. We just can’t do it.”
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dark sidius said:

Kratos Reveals Secret Hypersonic Drone Program | Aviation Week Network

All further details of the Kratos project—including the design, performance and schedule—cannot yet be released.
aviationweek.com aviationweek.com
Saddly behind paywall
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It's free to read

This article is published in Aerospace Daily & Defense Report part of Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN), and is complimentary through Mar 27, 2025. For information on becoming an AWIN Member to access more content like this, click here.
 
Boeing has a very profitable civilian business. Any debt on DoD programs is that many taxes they don't have to pay.
The services then get to access low prices and temper the rest of the primes.

The law should probably be written differently. But that's the reality for now.
 
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