DoD Successfully Tests Hypersonic Flying Bomb
 

Defense News: DoD Successfully Tests Hypersonic Flying Bomb

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon held a successful test flight of a flying bomb that travels faster than the speed of sound and will give military planners the ability to strike targets anywhere in the world in less than an hour.

Launched by rocket from Hawaii at 1130 GMT on Nov. 17, the "Advanced Hypersonic Weapon," or AHW, glided through the upper atmosphere over the Pacific "at hypersonic speed" before hitting its target on the Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands, a Pentagon statement said. Kwajalein is about 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii.

The Pentagon did not say what top speeds were reached by the vehicle, which unlike a ballistic missile is maneuverable.

Scientists classify hypersonic speeds as those that exceed Mach 5 - or five times the speed of sound - 3,728 miles an hour.

The test aimed to gather data on "aerodynamics, navigation, guidance and control, and thermal protection technologies," said Lt. Col. Melinda Morgan, a Pentagon spokeswoman.

The U.S. Army's AHW project is part of "Prompt Global Strike" program which seeks to give the U.S. military the means to deliver conventional weapons anywhere in the world within an hour.

On Aug. 11, the Pentagon test flew another hypersonic glider dubbed HTV-2, which is capable of flying 27,000 kilometers per hour, but it was a failure. The AHW's range is less than that of the HTV-2, the Congressional Research Service said in a report, without providing specifics.

The Pentagon has invested $239.9 million in the Global Strike program this year, including $69 million for the flying bomb tested Nov. 17, CRS said.

Pretty good deterrent - like Zeus launching a lightning bolt at you.

Its about time we built a passenger variant!

I think it should be banned - it is grossly unfair and could hurt someone.

quote - Its about time we built a passenger variant!

who would want to be a passenger on a "Hypersonic Flying Bomb"!!!!:sad::sad:

TWZ:E

Very impressive.. and more usable that 'conventional' ballistic gear I guess.

When we just had snail mail, correspondence was considered and measured. Now we have texts, we flood the air with instant, meaningless gibberish. When we used to have to send fleets and sqns across the globe over days and weeks, we had concurrently, the chance to discuss, negotiate and diffuse problems through dialogue.

That has given away to negotiation through strong arm shows of power. is the strategic opportunity to react with instant impact going to do away with that option, and even if the intent by the Americans is not to use it in such a way then the impression by potential foes, that they might, is probably just as damaging.

A further bye bye to reflection and diplomacy?

A well though out post :D

The pressure to do something in haste pushed by TV will no doubt have its consequences.

Abdul the blessed martyr? :}

We all KNOW they have had a manned Hypersonic vehicle for years!

Aurora (aircraft) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Without wanting to ask for information I'm not allowed to have... would a device like this actually have any explosives on board? Something travelling mach5+ would have a correspondingly high impact speed which you'd have to imagine would be enough to demolish pretty much anything it hit...


...and if it doesn't, can we really call it a bomb?!

considering that one of the perceived benefits of fitting railguns to ships (which will launch at similar speeds) is the ability to ditch the explosives and use a solid warhead then I suspect you're on the correct track.

Assuming a typical explosive proportion of 50% of bomb mass, a solid weapon travelling at mach 5 has, as kinetic energy, 70% of the explosive energy of a conventional bomb.
Not really worth the complication of explosives (storage, handling, risk) I would have thought.
..and that makes it a (big) rocket or bullet, not a bomb, in my book.

Good to know they did an Environmental Impact Study as well as a kinetic impact study...... :8

Hypersonic?
 

Not that it could ever happen, but if it misses at Mach 5, it won't miss by much then?:eek:

Dr Strangelove, aka Peter Sellers.

the Leonidas Squadron?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonidas_Squadron ??