Autoridades del US Army expresaron que el programa de armas hipers\u00f3nicas que lleva adelante esa fuerza contin\u00faa vigente, pese a algunas demoras respecto de lo planificado. El programa Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), es el desarrollo del US Army para disponer de un misil hipers\u00f3nico de lanzamiento desde plataformas terrestres. El vector denominado \u201cDark Eagle\u201d comparte componentes con el proyecto de hipers\u00f3nicos de la US Navy, particularmente el desarrollo de la cabeza de guerra del misil conocida como Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C- HGB), para su lanzamiento desde plataformas navales. La \u201ccarrera\u201d por disponer de armas hipers\u00f3nicas en condiciones de empleo operacional, entre Rusia, China y EEUU entre otros pa\u00edses, genera opiniones dispares entre expertos. Est\u00e1n quienes afirman que se trata de armas disruptivas capaces de superar los sistemas de Def Ae actuales,y otros que por el contrario, consideran que las inversiones en estos desarrollos son un gasto innecesario, para obtener capacidades que resultan redundantes, frente a los modernos misiles de crucero y bal\u00edsticos existentes y en servicio.<\/p>\n
GLOBAL FORCE 2025 \u2014 Senior US Army leaders have not yet blessed a roadmap for getting the delayed\u00a0Dark Eagle\u00a0hypersonic weapon into soldiers\u2019 hands, but that decision could be coming shortly, according to a three-star general charged with development.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe could continue to test it forever, but we had the big testing [event] to allow the Army leaders the decisions to move forward,\u201d\u00a0Lt. Gen. Robert Rasch, the director of Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO), told Breaking Defense today. \u201cObviously, with the new leadership team getting comfortable, I haven\u2019t had a chance to brief out the potential path forward to get that final decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Army and Navy have been working together on the new\u00a0conventional Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon designed to be launched from land or sea. However, testing and development woes \u2014 including a\u00a0mechanical engineering problem<\/a>\u00a0with the launcher \u2014 slowed down the program.<\/p>\n But in December, the sister services claimed a \u201csuccessful\u201d end-to-end flight test with the weapon from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla.<\/p>\n Shortly thereafter, senior political appointees, including the Army secretary and acquisition head, were swapped out as part of the transition from the Biden to Trump administration. Now, Daniel Driscoll\u00a0is seated in the service\u2019s top civilian post as other posts are slowly filled.<\/p>\n \u201cWe continue to move down the path we were on,\u201d Rasch said on the sidelines of the Association of the US Army Global Force conference. \u201cBut as far as decisions on when we field, when IOC\u00a0[initial operational capability] will be, etcetera, those have to be vetted.\u201d<\/p>\n Dark Eagle uses a land-based truck system to fire rounds capable of traveling \u201cwell over\u201d 3,800 miles per hour \u2014 five times the speed of sound \u2014 towards targets within a 1,725-mile range, according to a Congressional Research Services report. The\u00a0Navy program<\/a>\u00a0uses the same Common Hypersonic Glide Body missile but with a different launcher suited for the open waters and vessels like the Zumwalt-class surface combatant.<\/p>\n In 2023, soldiers within the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force long-range fires battalion, 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington\u00a0received system components<\/a>\u00a0and training in anticipation of becoming that first operational unit with the new weapon that year. Now two years later, they are still waiting.<\/p>\n