DOD eyes Common Hypersonic Glide Body for use across Army, Navy, Air Force
DOD eyes Common Hypersonic Glide Body for use across Army, Navy, Air Force
The Defense Department is laying the groundwork for a new triad of conventional hypersonic strike weapons to arm the military services with a Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB) paired with rockets tailored to launch from service-specific platforms, a major step toward ushering in a new class of ultrafast, maneuvering weapons across the U.S. military.
After more than a decade of development, Pentagon leaders are ready to harvest technologies matured as part of the Conventional Prompt Strike technology demonstration program by identifying potential applications across the U.S. military -- advancing the longstanding policy goal of giving the president the option to strike a target almost anywhere with a non-nuclear warhead in less than an hour.
"These technology demonstration activities have reached a level of maturity that will allow the development of hypersonic weapons based on the OSD-developed glide body design," according to a Pentagon memo signed by Defense Department leaders on June 28 outlining a collective way forward for hypersonic weapon technology development.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense has spearheaded work on Conventional Prompt Strike, sponsoring a test executed last fall by the Navy of a hypersonic boost glide prototype that flew from Hawaii to the Marshall Islands and was publicly hailed as a success in recent months by senior Pentagon officials.
"They did a brilliant job with it," Michael Griffin, under secretary of defense for research and engineering, said of the October 2017 CPS flight test during an April 18 hearing of the Senate Armed Services emerging threats and capabilities subcommittee. "I mean, I won't quote numbers, but I'll just say that the impact accuracy was quite impressive."
Based on the results of that test -- dubbed Flight Experiment-1 -- the Pentagon is setting up new enterprise-wide bureaucratic structures and processes dedicated to hypersonic weapons.
The existence of the June 28 memorandum of agreement on hypersonic boost glide technology development and its overarching objective was first reported by Inside Defense on July 23. Inside Defense recently reviewed a copy of the 11-page memo, which reveals previously unreported details.
"The Army, Navy, Air Force and [Missile Defense Agency] are considering the development of weapon systems and capabilities based on this design," states the memo. "It is important that the services develop a way to coordinate requirements, technology development schedules and industrial base issues as they pursue their respective development activities, with a goal of maintaining a common glide body design between the services and MDA."
Each service has identified a potential use for the Conventional Prompt Strike developed glide body: the Army, a Long Range Hypersonic Weapon; the Navy, which in fiscal year 2020 will take responsibility for managing the CPS program from OSD, is developing an Intermediate Range Conventional Prompt Strike program; and the Air Force is developing the Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon. MDA, meanwhile, is leading DOD's effort to develop a program of record to defend against maneuvering hypersonic weapons, which includes a need for hypersonic target vehicles to simulate threats.
The memo was signed, in some cases by appointed deputies, by Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Griffin, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord, Army Secretary Mark Esper, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves.
The memo calls for the establishment of a Conventional Prompt Strike Common Hypersonic Glide Body -- or CPS C-HGB -- board of directors to "coordinate C-HGB production priorities and oversee service C-HGB activities to develop and insert technology to enhance warfighting capability and reduce weapon cost."
The board is to meet at least every three months and approve production priorities and service roadmaps for technical development along with overseeing many other aspects of the C-HGB effort, according to the memo.
The board is to be chaired by the Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Strategic Forces Command's commanding general until the service declares initial operational capability of its Long Range Hypersonic Weapon. Other membership includes representatives from the OSD research and engineering hypersonics portfolio manager, director of the Navy's strategic systems programs, military deputy to the Air Force acquisition executive, and the MDA director, according to the memo.
The Defense Department is laying the groundwork for a new triad of conventional hypersonic strike weapons to arm the military services with a Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB) paired with rockets tailored to launch from service-specific platforms, a major step toward ushering in a new class of ultrafast, maneuvering weapons across the U.S. military.
After more than a decade of development, Pentagon leaders are ready to harvest technologies matured as part of the Conventional Prompt Strike technology demonstration program by identifying potential applications across the U.S. military -- advancing the longstanding policy goal of giving the president the option to strike a target almost anywhere with a non-nuclear warhead in less than an hour.
"These technology demonstration activities have reached a level of maturity that will allow the development of hypersonic weapons based on the OSD-developed glide body design," according to a Pentagon memo signed by Defense Department leaders on June 28 outlining a collective way forward for hypersonic weapon technology development.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense has spearheaded work on Conventional Prompt Strike, sponsoring a test executed last fall by the Navy of a hypersonic boost glide prototype that flew from Hawaii to the Marshall Islands and was publicly hailed as a success in recent months by senior Pentagon officials.
"They did a brilliant job with it," Michael Griffin, under secretary of defense for research and engineering, said of the October 2017 CPS flight test during an April 18 hearing of the Senate Armed Services emerging threats and capabilities subcommittee. "I mean, I won't quote numbers, but I'll just say that the impact accuracy was quite impressive."
Based on the results of that test -- dubbed Flight Experiment-1 -- the Pentagon is setting up new enterprise-wide bureaucratic structures and processes dedicated to hypersonic weapons.
The existence of the June 28 memorandum of agreement on hypersonic boost glide technology development and its overarching objective was first reported by Inside Defense on July 23. Inside Defense recently reviewed a copy of the 11-page memo, which reveals previously unreported details.
"The Army, Navy, Air Force and [Missile Defense Agency] are considering the development of weapon systems and capabilities based on this design," states the memo. "It is important that the services develop a way to coordinate requirements, technology development schedules and industrial base issues as they pursue their respective development activities, with a goal of maintaining a common glide body design between the services and MDA."
Each service has identified a potential use for the Conventional Prompt Strike developed glide body: the Army, a Long Range Hypersonic Weapon; the Navy, which in fiscal year 2020 will take responsibility for managing the CPS program from OSD, is developing an Intermediate Range Conventional Prompt Strike program; and the Air Force is developing the Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon. MDA, meanwhile, is leading DOD's effort to develop a program of record to defend against maneuvering hypersonic weapons, which includes a need for hypersonic target vehicles to simulate threats.
The memo was signed, in some cases by appointed deputies, by Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Griffin, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord, Army Secretary Mark Esper, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves.
The memo calls for the establishment of a Conventional Prompt Strike Common Hypersonic Glide Body -- or CPS C-HGB -- board of directors to "coordinate C-HGB production priorities and oversee service C-HGB activities to develop and insert technology to enhance warfighting capability and reduce weapon cost."
The board is to meet at least every three months and approve production priorities and service roadmaps for technical development along with overseeing many other aspects of the C-HGB effort, according to the memo.
The board is to be chaired by the Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Strategic Forces Command's commanding general until the service declares initial operational capability of its Long Range Hypersonic Weapon. Other membership includes representatives from the OSD research and engineering hypersonics portfolio manager, director of the Navy's strategic systems programs, military deputy to the Air Force acquisition executive, and the MDA director, according to the memo.
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