Pentagon struggles to keep pace in hypersonic arms race
The Pentagon still lacks sufficient data to evaluate the operational effectiveness and resilience of the Dark Eagle hypersonic missile, reports The War Zone. This raises questions about the future of the United States' hypersonic weapons, which are several steps behind those of Russia and China in this area.
The U.S. Department of Defense is still unable to definitively determine how effective and resilient the Dark Eagle Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) missile is, which is part of the American long-range hypersonic weapon system. This information was included in the latest report by the Office of the Director, Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E) for the fiscal year 2024. This is not the first official document to cast doubt on the future of U.S. hypersonic weapons. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, published in mid-2024, also highlighted existing problems, including delays in the system's implementation.
The American race for hypersonic weapons
Efforts to develop an effective long-range hypersonic weapon system, Dark Eagle, have been ongoing in the United States for years. The prototyping of this weapon began in 2019, and a few years later, in 2021, Lockheed Martin delivered the first LRHW battery to the U.S. Army. However, the first attempt to launch the Dark Eagle hypersonic missile, which is the main component of the LRHW system, was scheduled for March 2023 but did not take place due to battery failures. As noted by The War Zone, in 2023 alone, the U.S. Army cancelled planned Dark Eagle launches three times, mostly due to launch system problems.
It was not until 2024 that the United States successfully tested the system. The DOT&E report indicates, however, that the tests conducted so far have not provided enough data to fully assess the operational effectiveness, lethality, and resilience of the LRHW.
Moreover, the Pentagon admits that uncertainty in the tools to assess effectiveness may require the use of a greater number of missiles to destroy targets, significantly increasing operational costs. Especially since there is also a lack of data on the system's resilience to electromagnetic, cyber, or kinetic threats, which are crucial for evaluating the missile's survivability in real combat conditions.
Dark Eagle - what is known about the system?
As we have reported, the LRHW weapon is a ground-based system comprising, among other things, a hypersonic missile, transport equipment, support systems, and a fire control system. The range of the LRHW is approximately 3,000 kilometres, and the launched missile is expected to travel at a speed of over Mach 5, or about 6,000 kilometres per hour.
The U.S. Army expects that the missiles of the LRHW system will be able to reach the edge of Earth's atmosphere and remain just out of the range of enemy air and missile defence systems until they are ready to strike. In this way, the adversary is deprived of certainty about the final target of the attack and, at the same time, has its reaction time to emerging threats minimised.
Each Dark Eagle battery is expected to consist of four TEL-type (Transporter-Erector-Launcher) launchers, capable of rapid movement and deployment in the field. Each of these will be equipped with two missiles housed in special launch containers.
It is also worth mentioning that the same missiles under the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) programme will be used by the U.S. Navy on board Zumwalt-class destroyers and Virginia Block V-class submarines. This will allow for the integration of hypersonic weapons across different domains—both land and sea.
Although Americans plan to implement Dark Eagle by 2027, the future of this project remains uncertain, making the USA trail behind Russia and China in the race for hypersonic weapons. Both powers already possess such solutions. Moscow's arsenal includes the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal and 3M22 Zircon missiles. In Beijing's case, these are primarily the DF-27 missiles and their air-launched variant YJ-21.
