GRAHAMWARWICK / WASHINGTON DC
Unmanned hypersonic weapon system capable of deployment from conventional runway could be operational by 2025
The US Air Force wants to develop the capability to strike anywhere in the world within 2h from a conventional runway in the continental USA (CONUS). Development of an unmanned hypersonic weapon system that could be operational by 2025 is outlined in a draft solicitation for the Force Application and Launch from CONUS (Falcon) technology demonstration just released by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
The weapon system would consist of a reusable hypersonic cruise vehicle (HCV) carrying a number of common aero vehicles (CAV) - manoeuvrable hypersonic glide weapons carrying a 450kg (1,000lb) penetrator warhead or other payload. The conventional take-off and landing HCV would be capable of striking targets 16,600km (9,000nm) away in less than 2h, carrying a 5,400kg payload of CAVs or other munitions.
To give the USA a near-term strike capability, the Falcon programme envisages development of a small launch vehicle (SLV) to be operational around 2010 and capable of delivering a single global-range CAV to its target in under an hour, with 3m accuracy and a 4,000ft/s (1,200m/s) impact speed. The same vehicle would provide a low-cost, quick-reaction launch capability for small, 100-1,000kg satellites into 450km-altitude, 79°-inclination sun-synchronous orbit, DARPA says.
The Falcon technology demonstration builds on USAF conceptual studies of the CAV and work by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on HyperSoar, a Mach 10 aircraft that would reduce the heat build-up in hypersonic flight by skipping along the edge of the atmosphere. The scramjet-powered HyperSoar would loft to 130,000ft (40,000m), turn off its engines and coast back to the surface of the atmosphere, then re-ignite its air-breathing engines and skip back into space to repeat the process.
The six-month first phase of the Falcon programme covers conceptual design of the SLV and the hypersonic weapon systems (HWS) - a 5,500km-range, 900kg CAV using available technology; a 16,600km-range, 5,500km cross-range Enhanced CAV; and the HCV. For Phase I, DARPA plans to award four of five cost-sharing SLV contracts, each of $300,000-600,000, and three or four HWS contracts, each of $1.2 million-1.5 million, up to a total of $7 million.
The planned 36-month second phase covers flight demonstration of one or more SLVs and flight test of a CAV. Phase II will also cover design of Enhanced CAV and HCV demonstrators sharing common technologies, including hypersonic aerodynamics, high-temperature materials, thermal management, target update and autonomous control.
Source: Flight International
