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- - USAF Hypersonic Missile Test: successful (https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/646735-usaf-hypersonic-missile-test-successful.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by SATCOS WHIPPING BOY (Post 11231737)

Article implies the main target will be static land-based or slow moving ship targets. Manouverability shouldn't be a major requirement for a missile travelling at 6000 or so m/s.

So the China test lasted 5 seconds! At what range of identification from target, does such a threat become indefensible? Identify, track, target, launch, travel to impact. 5 seconds (?) for each of first 4 stages but the missile has travelled 120km before a counter measure is deployed. Mind boggling if they can be launched with nuclear warheads from subs.

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From the limited teaching we had on the SR-71 on the hard sums coarse I know that a suitably light SR71 that was somehow / actually in the best bit of the CofG envelope, with sufficient LN2 density, operating at a lower altitude that also happened to be unusually cold, with intakes in fully automatic (and trusting that they would remain so(!)) at a reduced mach number (say M3.0 or below), in a flight regime that allowed up to 25º AoB whilst remaining within the limited AoA range etc, then you could probably achieve a turning radius of under 100nm. Easy.

None of what you postulate is relevant I’m afraid, see graph.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....fcdea2ca59.jpg

Centre of Gravity limitations were numerous, but basically,

Take Off – Forward of 22% MAC

Subsonic – 17 to 22%

Supersonic below 3.2M – aft limit 25% (desired position as there is a 50 nm loss of range per % CoG forward of 25%). Fuel transfer used to keep it there.

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I recall that real-world ops tended to have few, if any, of the favourable conditions above and with an AoB limits reducing towards zero makes turning at operational altitudes / mach a serious challenge. I do recall (with reasonable certainty) that any manual control of the intakes (as an example) at typical operational altitudes had a 0º AoB limit. Tricky.

Manual control of intakes imposed no flight restrictions, though did impose cautions. The only non turning flight limitation on high altitude turns was for flight at or above the Maximum Altitude Cruise Profile for the existing Mach, gross weight and ambient temperature, a 35° angle of bank at this altitude the angle of attack would exceed the 8° supersonic limit. A 2,000 ft descent prior to turn entry was recommended ie to the Intermediate Altitude Cruise Profile.

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2023...-failed-tests/

US Air Force drops Lockheed hypersonic missile after failed tests

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force isn’t going to buy the hypersonic AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon after the prototyping phase ends, following problems during testing, the service’s acquisition chief told lawmakers Wednesday.

But the service will still finish the ARRW program’s last two all-up round test flights to collect data to help with future hypersonic programs, Andrew Hunter told the House Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee in written testimony.

“While the Air Force does not currently intend to pursue follow-on procurement of ARRW once the prototyping program concludes, there is inherent benefit to completing the all-up round test flights to garner the learning and test data that will help inform future hypersonic programs,” Hunter wrote.

Hunter sounded the death knell for Lockheed Martin’s ARRW program a day after Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in another hearing that a March test had failed….

Kendall said Tuesday that the Air Force still wants to carry out two more ARRW tests with its remaining prototypes. But he told lawmakers that the service is more committed to its other major hypersonic weapon program, the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile.….

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...g-move-forward

Navy Air-Launched Hypersonic Anti-Ship Cruise Missile Makes Big Move Forward

The Navy says it wants to begin fielding the first examples of a new hypersonic anti-ship missile, called HALO, by 2029.

The U.S. Navy has awarded separate contracts to Raytheon and Lockheed Martin to design and build competing prototypes to meet its requirement for an air-launched, air-breathing hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile. The service says this weapon is key to addressing increasingly advanced naval threats in contested environments in future major conflicts, such as a potential one against China in the Pacific, and that it must be in service by 2029.

The Navy's Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) announced the contract awards late on Tuesday. NAVAIR says the deals, which were formally inked on March 27, together have a total combined value of approximately $116 million, but it's unclear how much each company received….