The US Army’s Dark Eagle hypersonic missile can hit Beijing in under 30 minutes from Japan.
On Friday, the United States conducted a test launch of the U.S. Army’s hypersonic missile, also known as the Dark Eagle, in Florida. The missile is capable of travelling undetected over five times the speed of sound and hit Beijing in under 30 minutes.
In the case of denied access, China has constructed an A2/AD network with missiles that can strike as far as Guam. This network is tailor-made to keep the US Navy (particularly the Carriers) at a distance if a conflict erupts over Taiwan or any other regional flashpoints in which the US has a vested interest.
If forward deployed, Dark Eagle, along with other stealth aerial platforms, would be among the first weapons used to directly attack China’s A2/AD network. This advance strike would clear a path for follow-on forces.
This type of so-called “game-changer” armament is capable of evading most of the air and missile defense systems by maneuvering within the atmosphere at hypersonic speed. The U.S. is currently developing hypersonic missiles and the countermeasures against them.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense confirmed the test event to Orlando Sentinel, adding that the results are being evaluated. This marked the first test of the Dark Eagle missile since its successful flight test held in December last year, the report added.
The Dark Eagle is a ground-launched missile attached with a maneuverable hypersonic glide body as its warhead, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) said in its report on Thursday.
The LRHW is being developed by the Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office in close partnership with the US Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs. It comprises a ground-launched, two-stage booster and a common hypersonic glide body (C-HGB), capable of speeds exceeding 3,800 mph (over Mach 5 or 6,124 km/h) and with an effective range of approximately 1,725 miles (2,775 kilometres).
The system is specifically designed to penetrate and defeat peer adversaries’ anti-access/area-denial networks by engaging high-value, time-sensitive targets at stand-off distances.
Dark Eagle is the colloquial name for the U.S. Army’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), a surface-to-surface missile that carries a hypersonic glide body, a vehicle capable of carrying warheads and maneuvering as it travels at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound through Earth’s atmosphere. Because of their speed and maneuverability, these types of weapons are much more difficult to defend against than traditional missiles.
According to the report, each Dark Eagle missile unit will consist of four launchers armed with a total of eight missiles. Due to what the report called “integration challenges,” the first complete unit is now expected to be fielded in fiscal year 2025, two years behind schedule.
Fiscal year 2025 began on October 1, 2024, and ends on September 30, 2025, meaning the U.S. Army has five months left to put the missile into service, according to the new schedule.
The latest test comes after the U.S. Army announced on Thursday that “Dark Eagle” is the popular name for the LRHW. The word “dark” reflects the weapon’s ability to “disintegrate adversary capabilities,” while “eagle” is a tribute to the master hunter, the U.S. Army said.
The LRHW, which is the combination of velocity, accuracy, maneuverability, survivability, and versatility, matches the eagle’s characteristics—speed, stealth, and agility. Meanwhile, America’s national bird, the bald eagle, represents independence, strength, and freedom.
Patrick Mason, U.S. senior official performing the duties of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, said on Thursday: “Hypersonic weapons will complicate adversaries’ decision calculus, strengthening deterrence … Their speed, accuracy and versatility are befitting its new popular name, Dark Eagle.”
The Congressional Research Service reported: “The LRHW system provides the Army a strategic attack weapon system to defeat Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) capabilities, suppress adversary long-range fires, and engage other high payoff/time critical targets.”
It remains to be seen whether the U.S. Army will conduct additional tests of the Dark Eagle missile before declaring it operational. The Army has previously expressed interest in operating its Multi-Domain Task Force, which hosts the Dark Eagle missile, out of Japan.
Missile boosters are being built by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, while the C-HGB – derived from an Army/Sandia re-entry system – is produced by Dynetics. When combined with its booster and canister, the package is referred to as the Navy-Army All-Up Round plus Canister (AUR+C), enabling both land and sea variants to share a common missile.
The LRHW is organised into batteries, each consisting of four transporter-erector launchers mounted on modified trailers (with two AUR+Cs per launcher), a battery operations centre and support vehicles. The first battery was earmarked for the 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, although initial fielding slipped from fiscal year 2023 to 2025 following integration and testing challenges.
Early flight tests were beset by setbacks, including a booster failure in October 2021 and a scrubbed launch in June 2022. The program achieved its first end-to-end success on 28 June 2024 at the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii, when the two-stage missile and glide body completed a strike over 2,000 miles (3,200 km) away.
The December 2024 test at Cape Canaveral marked the first live-fire event using the Army’s full launcher stack and operations centre, clearing the way for the “Dark Eagle” naming announcement.
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