With recent tests, U.S. closes gap on China and Russia in race for hypersonic missiles

The decades-long “space race” between the U.S. and the Soviet Union effectively ended in July 1969 when NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped off his spacecraft and left a footprint on the surface of the moon.

Now the U.S., Russia and China are in another space race: to develop a generation of “hypersonic” weapons capable of flying more than five times the speed of sound and frustrating even the most sophisticated modern missile defense systems. Until recently, Washington appeared to be behind Moscow and Beijing.

The U.S. Air Force confirmed that it had completed a second successful test of its Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) booster on Tuesday off the California coast. The hypersonic weapon in this system is carried aloft under the wing of an aircraft before it is launched toward a target. In previous tests, the hypersonic missile failed to detach.

In late May, the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) successfully tested a ground-launched hypersonic weapon at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Lockheed Martin developed both missiles.

The successes are likely to ease some worried minds at the Pentagon while “near-peer” adversaries have claimed marked advances on their hypersonic programs.

In August last year, China launched a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile that circled the globe through low-orbit space before speeding toward its target on the ground. The flight reportedly caught U.S. intelligence agencies by surprise. Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, compared it to a “Sputnik moment.”

The test also was a wake-up call for some on Capitol Hill.

“The People’s Liberation Army now has an increasingly credible capability to undermine our missile defenses and threaten the American homeland with both conventional and nuclear strikes,” Rep. Mike Gallagher, Wisconsin Republican, said after the Chinese test firing. “Even more disturbing is the fact that American technology has contributed to the PLA’s hypersonic missile program.”

The three nations are developing hypersonic weapons that fly at five times the speed of sound. Unlike ballistic missiles, which follow a fixed and predictable arc, hypersonic weapons are maneuverable, making them harder to track and shoot down with current air and missile defense technology.

The U.S. hypersonic program has been plagued with problems. In June, a weapon failed during a full system test at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii. The mission was supposed to launch the hypersonic missile package atop a two-stage missile booster. The booster is designed to accelerate to hypersonic speeds and then send the detached glide body to the target.

In December 2019, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed it had fielded the first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) payload, said Air Force Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, head of U.S. Northern Command. President Vladimir Putin hailed the breakthrough as a technology that only Russia had.

“These weapons are designed to glide at extremely high speeds and maneuver at low altitudes in order to complicate our ability to detect and track,” Gen. VanHerck said in March during testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The U.S. has had some success in the hypersonic weapons race. On May 14, an Air Force B-52 bomber released an AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon off the coast of Southern California. The booster ignited and burned for what the Air Force said was the “expected duration” and achieved hypersonic speeds.

The Air Force conducted a second successful ARRW launch on June 12. It again reached hypersonic speeds, and Air Force officials said the test met their objectives.

“The test successfully demonstrated booster performance, expanding the operational envelope,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Heath Collins, the program director, said in a statement.

The Pentagon’s DARPA said it successfully launched its first flight test of a ground-launched hypersonic missile system at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Rather than rely on a custom-made launcher, DARPA’s Operational Fires program uses a standard military logistics truck to launch the high-speed, medium-range missile. The program also used a standard Army artillery fire control system to initiate the test mission. Although Lockheed Martin built that system, DARPA officials said it uses a Northrup Grumman rocket motor.

“This is a promising step toward a TEL on-demand capability for accurately firing medium-range missiles from highly agile, readily available logistics trucks that are already in both U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps inventory,” Air Force Lt. Col. Joshua Stults, DARPA’s program manager, called the test a “promising step” and noted that the Army and Marine Corps have trucks in their inventory that can launch the hypersonic weaponry.

DARPA researchers say their primary goal is to develop a ground-launched, two-stage hypersonic system that can penetrate air defenses and strike critical targets in a timely manner.

Russia also is moving forward with its hypersonic program. According to the government-controlled Tass news agency, Moscow is developing a hypersonic missile known as the Zmeevik that would allow its navy to take on the enemy’s largest warships.

“The Zmeevik ballistic missile with hypersonic combat equipment has been in development for quite a long time. It will be designed to destroy large surface targets, primarily aircraft carriers,” Tass reported, citing a source “close to the military department and the military-industrial complex.”

Tass said a Zmeevik missile has a range of about 2,500 miles and could enter service with the coastal missile units of Russia’s navy. In June, the Russian navy carried out tests on another hypersonic missile known as the Tsirkon.

U.S. officials said the hypersonic missile program offers a necessary long-range strike option for military leaders against distant or well-defended threats. But in a July 2021 report, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) cited critics who said it contributes little to U.S. military capability and is unnecessary for deterrence.

In contrast to those in Russia and China, most U.S. hypersonic weapons are not being designed for use with a nuclear warhead. As a result, they will likely require greater accuracy and be more technologically challenging to develop, CRS officials said.

Congress should seek answers to several questions before it continues pumping money into the hypersonic missile program, CRS researchers said. Lawmakers need to be told what mission a hypersonic missile would be used for and whether it would be the most cost-effective means.