Mientras los componentes de las FFAA de EEUU (Army \u2013 Navy \u2013 Airforce, etc) contin\u00faan avanzando en diversos programas de sistemas de armas hipers\u00f3nicas, el Departamento de Defensa (DoD \u2013 \u201cPent\u00e1gono\u201d) sigue trabajando para comprender, la manera en que estas armas se incorporar\u00e1n de manera eficiente, en la doctrina de empleo en operaciones multidominio de las FFAA, cuando sean desplegadas operacionalmente. Para ello, en los pr\u00f3ximos a\u00f1os el Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC), planea integrar las siguientes Etapas de Desarrollo de las Armas Hipers\u00f3nicas y orientar los recursos y esfuerzos conjuntos, dentro de un gran Programa Marco denominado \u201cHypersonics 2.0 y 3.0\u201d. Adem\u00e1s de continuar con algunos de los desarrollos que ya tienen las distintas Fuerzas, se busca incrementar significativamente la participaci\u00f3n de las universidades, en la I&D de estas tecnolog\u00edas emergentes.<\/p>\n
SOUTH BEND, Ind. \u2014 As several of the U.S. military services continue to develop and test hypersonic missiles, the Defense Department at large is concurrently working to understand how the weapons will fit into joint warfighting operations once they are fielded.<\/p>\n
Over the next couple of years, the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC), the Pentagon\u2019s organization dedicated to developing overarching joint operational and integrating concepts, plans to move into the next phases of hypersonic weapons development known as \u201chypersonics 2.0 and 3.0,\u201d Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and JROC Chair Adm. Christopher Grady told DefenseScoop.<\/p>\n
The effort will focus on analyzing exactly how the technology will contribute to closing future \u201ckill webs\u201d \u2014 that is, the multi-layered and multi-directional structure of attack leveraging assets from all domains, Grady said Nov. 9 in an exclusive interview during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for\u00a0the University of Notre Dame\u2019s new hypersonics testing facility<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt gets back to the kill web. So, where do hypersonics fit into how we are going to fight?\u201d he said. \u201cWe know that hypersonics allow us to get after time-critical, heavily defended targets. We know that hypersonics allow us to defeat adversary hypersonics. And then, we also know that hypersonics allow us to leverage hypersonic aircraft and spacecraft missions in those two domains.\u201d<\/p>\n In recent years, the United States has raced to field hypersonic weapons capable of flying at speeds of Mach 5 or higher. In addition to their speed, hypersonics maneuver through the Earth\u2019s atmosphere mid-flight, making them harder to detect and defeat compared to traditional ballistic missiles that have a more predictable flight path through space.<\/p>\n Both China and Russia are actively developing and testing their own hypersonic systems, putting pressure on the Pentagon to do the same. But the technology is extremely complex and individual programs have run into a number of hurdles \u2014 particularly during test campaigns \u2014 meaning the capability has yet to cross the finish line.<\/p>\n While program management for hypersonic weapons falls to the services, the JROC plays a role in identifying joint capability gaps and then establishing \u201clarge R requirements\u201d for the entire Defense Department, Grady noted.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the top-down approach. And so we try to write a really strong requirement that says, \u2018This is the value proposition for hypersonics.\u2019 And I think we\u2019ve done a pretty good job,\u201d Grady said. \u201cWe do things across capability portfolios now, so this fits into our kill web analysis that [the Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office] and the rest run.\u201d<\/p>\n But before the Pentagon can implement those next phases, the services must continue down the path to developing and testing their respective systems.<\/p>\n The Army is working alongside the Navy to co-develop a common hypersonic glide body, which the Army will integrate into ground launchers for its version \u2014 known as the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW<\/a>) or Dark Eagle \u2014 while the sea service plans to use a ship-launched capability called Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS<\/a>).<\/p>\n Although both services reported a successful end-to-end flight test in June, a series of prior aborted and failed tests have delayed fielding for both weapons by at least a year. The Army is planning to conduct one more flight test for the LRHW by the end of the year to inform whether it can field the complete system to the first unit in 2025. Meanwhile, the Navy is continuing its test campaign for CPS, which it hopes to field aboard Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyers and Virginia-class attack submarines in the next few years.<\/p>\n As for the Air Force, the service decided to not procure or continue development of the\u00a0AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon<\/a>\u00a0(ARRW) in fiscal 2025 after years of inconsistent testing results. The Air Force is pursuing another air-launched hypersonic weapon \u2014 the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM<\/a>) \u2014 and plans to begin its flight test campaign in FY \u201925.<\/p>\n Broadly, the Defense Department has recognized mishaps during hypersonic flight test campaigns and is working to close those gaps through a number of efforts, including partnerships with academic institutions and international partners that can assist with test efforts.<\/p>\n A key benefit to working with universities on emerging technology development is that many have begun emphasizing both fundamental and applied research, serving as dual-use facilities for the Pentagon, Jeffrey Rhoads, vice president for research and professor at Notre Dame\u2019s Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, told DefenseScoop.<\/p>\n \u201cI would argue that universities, at least many of us, are stretching across that valley as far as we can,\u201d Rhoads said in an interview. \u201cI think, at the same time, the department and industry are stretching from the other direction to try to de-risk things writ large.\u201d<\/p>\n Another focus is on taking advantage of adaptive buying strategies such as Middle Tier Acquisition \u2014 which many hypersonic programs use \u2014 to make technology transfer between government research organizations, industry and academic institutions to the Defense Department as quick as possible, Grady said.<\/p>\n He also emphasized the importance of working with Congress on getting flexible funding.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ability to move money within line items will be critical of the system that we have now with congressional oversight \u2014 that\u2019s entirely appropriate,\u201d Grady said. \u201cWe have to earn that trust from Congress and show them that we can do this, and we are embarking on methods to do that across the services and within the department.\u201d<\/p>\n