A US Army unit has made its first deployment with a hypersonic weapon, the service announced in a press release on 30 March 2023, although a test launch slated for early that month did not proceed.
The deployment, initiated in February 2023, involved the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force (1st MDTF) long-range fires battalion, 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment (5-3 LRFB), deploying the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) system over 3,100 miles from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state to Cape Canaveral, Florida, during Operation ‘Thunderbolt Strike’: a full rehearsal of expeditionary hypersonic launch capabilities.
The deployment, the army noted, exercised critical command-and-control linkages between US Indo-Pacific Command, US Strategic Command, US Army Pacific, the Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO), and the 1st MDTF.
Soldiers of the 5-3 LRFB conducted training and practice drills with the LRHW system in Cape Canaveral.
“Our soldiers processed real missions, with real data, in real time, to produce real effects to learn lessons and generate readiness,” Brigadier General Bernard Harrington, the 1st MDTF commander, was quoted as saying in an army press release. “We’re training the way we will fight, and our soldiers are ready to deploy and employ this critical capability forward.”
Colonel Ian Humphrey, RCCTO’s hypersonic weapon integration project manager, highlighted the 1st MDTF’s rapid progress in building the technical and procedural capacity to integrate the LRHW system’s capabilities into the US military’s Joint Force. “This unit is fully trained and has proven that they can be deployed away from home station and go right into whatever mission they’re given,” he said.
“’Thunderbolt Strike’ proved the power of interagency co-operation to build the multi-domain force of the future,” added Brig Gen Harrington. “The second half of the army’s year of long-range precision fires will continue to represent ground-breaking strides toward integrated deterrence in the Pacific.”
The LRHW will reportedly have a range of 1,725 miles and will also be common to the US Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) System. It comprises the Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB) and a two-stage booster rocket provided by the navy. While the missile component of the LRHW is being developed by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, the C-HGB is reportedly based on the Alternate Re-Entry System developed by the army and Sandia National Laboratories, with Leidos subsidiary Dynetics under contract to produce the C-HGB prototypes.
Although the US Army had planned to field the LRHW in Financial Year 2023 (FY23), the weapon’s recent flight tests have not been successful. On 21 October 2021 the booster rocket failed, giving the C-HGB no chance to deploy, while in June 2022 a test of the entire LRHW missile component known as Joint Flight Campaign 1 (JFC1) also failed. Speaking at the Association of the US Army conference in Washington, DC, in early October 2022 the army’s director of hypersonics, directed energy, space and rapid acquisition, Lieutenant General Robert Rasch, acknowledged that the rapid pace of the LRHW/CPS programme was producing increased risk. While conceding that two further upcoming flight tests, JFC2 and JFC3, could also produce anomalies, the general maintained that the army was sticking to its plan to field the LRHW by late 2023.
JFC2, which was planned to take place from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on 5 March 2023, was called off due to a “battery activation issue”.
Peter Felstead
