Over the next five years, the US Army will invest $ 1.2 billion in a land-based hypersonic weapon program. This was reported by the press service of the ground the US forces.
From this amount, as follows from the army’s budget request for the 2020 fiscal year (starting October 1), the army asks for $ 228 million. In the future, it is planned to request $ 181 million in the fiscal year 2021, $ 137 million in the 2022nd, $ 359 million – 2023 and $ 274 million in fiscal year 2024.
As the US Army Command emphasizes, the creation of a new weapon will be carried out within the framework of the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW) program, which will make it possible in the future to counter the enemy’s ability to block access and block certain A2 / AD zones (anti-access / area denial), suppress its firepower at long ranges and quickly destroy high-priority targets.
If lawmakers approve funding for fiscal year 2020, the Army Hypersonic Project Office’s program will begin working with the main contractor to formulate the terms of reference, as well as review the project’s preliminary review and then the project’s critical review in 2022. All tests, including flight tests, should be completed in 2023.
According to the Land Forces Command, the contractor for the AHW program will integrate the unified hypersonic planning blocks (CHGB) (common hypersonic glide body) with a two-stage driver in a transport-launch container and will produce an experienced AHW system. Hypersonic units must fly in the atmosphere at speeds above 5 Mach.
According to US military experts, the start of work on hypersonic weapons is associated with the concern of the military command of the investment of Russia and China in similar developments. According to media reports, China, in particular, in 2018 conducted tests of two hypersonic devices. Among them are mentioned planning hypersonic aircraft (GLA) without the power plant DF-ZF and GLA with the powerplant Xing Kong-2 (Starry Sky-2).