Introduction
Russia has developed hypersonic weapons and China is not far behind. In the current scenario, The US does not want to be left behind. So the US plan to tackle hypersonic weapon in another way.
The U.S. military is developing an interceptor intended to knock down hypersonic boost-glide vehicles specifically for deployment on U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyers equipped with the Aegis missile weaponry. The Regional Glide Phase instrument may be a concept for an interceptor against a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV).
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| Arleigh Burke-class destroyer |
U.S. Navy commissioned naval officer Jon Hill, head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), provided few insights into the program at the annual McAleese Defense Programs Conference in Washington, D.C. on Mar. 4, 2020.
Currently the U.S and for that matter, any military within the world doesn’t have a viable defense against hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) which in itself are very new tech. during this article, Defence Talks analyzes how the U.S plans to defend against Russian and Chinese hypersonic boost-glide vehicles? Lets’s get started.
Hypersonic Weapons
There are currently 3 methods being applied to form hypersonic weapons. the primary is employing a Scramjet engine. The scramjet is an innovation on the Ramjet. Ramjet can power flight to supersonic speeds but scramjet can enable the missiles to succeed in hypersonic speeds. The scramjet engine can power a hypersonic aircraft.
The second is through the utilization of ALBM or Air-Launched missile. Because the name suggests, this type of missile is ballistic in nature but is launched from air, unlike traditional ballistic missiles which are launched from land or sea-based platforms.
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| Zircon Hypersonic Missile |
The third is using HGV or Hypersonic Glide Vehicle. during this method, the system is launched to extremely high altitudes using a missile or an aircraft where it skips across the Earth’s upper atmosphere. The vehicle then separates from the carrier and glides back to the planet towards its intended target attaining hypersonic speed.
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| Hypersonic Glide Vehicle |
Missile Defense Agency or MDA has made it clear that RGPWS is primarily intended to be used against hypersonic boost-glide vehicles, instead of scramjet-powered hypersonic cruise missiles or Air-Launched Ballistic missile.
Russian & Chinese HGVs
Russia has recently claimed that deployed its first nuclear-capable hypersonic boost-glide vehicle (HGV). The Russian defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, told Putin that the first missile unit equipped with the Avangard had entered combat duty.
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| Avangard Hypersonic missile |
Mr. Shoigu said during a call with top military leaders, “I congratulate you on this landmark event for the military and also the entire nation.” Chief of the strategic missile forces, Gen Sergei Karakaev, said during the choice that the Avangard had been placed on duty with a unit within the Orenburg region within the southern Urals.
President solon stated that it puts his country in an exceedingly class of its own. He described the Avangard, which may fly at 27 times the speed of sound, as a technological breakthrough reminiscent of the 1957 Soviet launch of the primary satellite.
Mr. Putin has said that Russia’s new generation of nuclear weapons can hit almost any point within the globe and evade a US-built missile shield. Chinese effort during this direction is a smaller amount of maturing. China had shown off mockups of its road-mobile DF-17, which also carries a hypersonic boost-glide vehicle for the primary time at a military parade in Beijing last year.
ARLEIGH BURKE CLASS DESTROYER OVERVIEW
Arleigh Burke-class destroyer is among the most important destroyers in-built the US and also the warships of this class are multi-mission combatants capable of performing different sorts of missions like Anti Aircraft Warfare (AAW), Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) and Anti Surface Warfare (ASuW).
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| Arleigh Burke-class destroyer |
United States Navy has over 65 of those in active service. it's an overall length of 155 m and a displacement of about 9,200 tons. The Arleigh Burke design incorporates several stealth configurations like angled instead of traditional vertical surfaces.
It makes these warships hard to focus on by Anti Ship Missile For propulsion, it's 4 General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines generating 75 MW of power, driving 2 shafts. it's a speed of 30+ knots or around 55+ km/h and a variety of 4,400 nmi or 8,100 km. U.S Carrier Strike Groups generally have one or more of those destroyers to guard the supercarriers. These warships also undertake missions independently.
AEIGS COMBAT SYSTEM
The RGPWS is going to be integrated with the Aegis Defence System. The Arleigh Burke-class of missile destroyer is that the US Navy's first-class of destroyers to be built from grounds up to incorporate the Aegis Defence System.
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| Aegis Combat System |
The system is meant by the US Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency to guard against short and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. Aegis Combat System is devised to intercept ballistic missiles post-boost phase and before reentry.
It enables the Arleigh Burke-class warships to shoot down enemy ballistic missiles by expanding the Aegis Combat System with the addition of the AN/SPY-1 radar and Standard missiles. Aegis BMD-equipped vessels can transmit their target detection information to other systems and, if needed, engage potential threats by using Standard Missile like SM-3, SM-6.
The centerpiece of the AEGIS systems may be a very powerful multi-purpose AN/SPY-1 radar. it's considered to be one among the foremost advanced naval equipment which will automatically detect and track targets. The high-power of 4 MW enables it to simultaneously track over 100 targets and guide missiles.
The 4 fixed arrays of "SPY" direct electromagnetic beams altogether directions concurrently and continuously unlike traditional search radars have rotating antennas that will track a target once during every 360-degree sweep.
The radar may be made to focus on one target when needed, without blinding the warship against other threats. MDA's budget request for the 2021 yr, a public version of which came go in February, specifically mention plans to integrate the new interceptor with the Aegis missile defense system.
DEPLOYMENT, INTEGRATION, AND DESIGN
Arleigh Burke-class warships have 92 MK 41 Vertical Launch System cells. These cells may be wont to deploy several sorts of weapons like Tomahawk Land Attack aircraft and Anti Missile Defense like SM2 and SM6. flag officer Hill stated that originally the interceptor is going to be deployed to a ship launch application with MK 41 VLS.
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| Vertical Launch System cells of Arleigh Burke-class warships |
In total, MDA has asked around $117 million in yr 2021 for the general "Glide Phase Defeat Weapon System" effort. this may include the event of the RGPWS interceptor, upgrade to the Aegis BMD system, similarly as other supporting work.
Readers may note that it received a bit over $88.5 million within the previous fiscal cycle for these projects. Currently, details about the RGPWS interceptor's design remain very limited and officials engaged on this are tightlipped.
ANALYSIS
Threats from hypersonic weapons are becoming more serious with each day. it's to be noted that America’s Government Accountability Office (GAO) report has stated that the U.S currently lacks the defenses required to guard against the newest crop of hypersonic weapons being developed by China and Russia.
The report states, “China and Russia are pursuing hypersonic weapons because their speed, altitude, and maneuverability may defeat most missile defense systems and that they are also wont to improve long-range conventional and nuclear strike capabilities. There are not any existing countermeasures.”
In its response to the GAO, the Department of Defense described the report as “an accurate although the sobering macro picture of how the US stands within the world against emerging threats.” it's time the U.S military did something about it and this can be exactly things are panning out.
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