Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile Becomes High-Priority USAF Project

Table Of Content

• Iran says it shot down Israel’s attack. Here’s what air defense systems it might have used.
• Thomas C. Reed, Secretary of the Air Force Under Ford and Carter, Dies at 89
• B-52 Bombers Make Rare Landing at Civilian Airport
• How to ensure readiness of next-generation defense technology: Solving the issue of massive heat.
• Navy jet trainer fleet operations remain paused after engine mishap

The service's forthcoming F-15EX fighters have been touted as a potential hypersonic weapons platform and its future B-21 Raider stealth bombers could be another future HACM carrier. The Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), also designated the AGM-183A, is a missile that utilizes an unpowered boost-glide vehicle, a different kind of hypersonic weapon concept that you can read about in detail here. The design is much larger than what is expected of HACM and, to date, has only been launched by B-52 bombers. In March, the Air Force announced that it was canceling further work on the AGM-183A and refocusing its resources on HACM, though it would still complete the rest of its already planned ARRW flight tests. ARRW's test record is checkered and the Air Force declined to say whether the most recent known test of that design, which occurred in August, was a success or failure.

Iran says it shot down Israel’s attack. Here’s what air defense systems it might have used.

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In addition, "HACM offers a smaller form factor than ARRW for fighter integration and expanded bomber capacity, and thereby imposes cost on potential adversaries with additional complexity." The U.S. Air Force has offered the first peek at its secretive air-breathing hypersonic cruise missile. The service also looks to have given us our best, detailed look at a live example of its now-canceled AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon hypersonic missile. Russia is testing hypersonic cruise missiles—and launching them underwater from submarines. According to FY25 budget documents released by the service Monday evening, a timeline for the HACM project shows “AUR [all-up-round] free flight testing” planned to begin in the first quarter and continue through the second quarter of FY25. If HACM development continues to progress, the weapon could become the first scramjet-powered, air-launched hypersonic missile to be introduced into the Air Force’s inventory as early as 2027, the service said in a news release.

Thomas C. Reed, Secretary of the Air Force Under Ford and Carter, Dies at 89

Lawmakers have yet to pass a defense appropriation, despite the fiscal year ending next week. “With advanced threats emerging around the globe, the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile will provide our warfighters a much-needed capability,” Wes Kremer, president of Raytheon Missiles & Defense, said in a statement. Although this is the final test for the HAWC system, the Air Force will take the lessons and data gleaned from its successful tests into a new program unimaginatively titled More Opportunities with HAWC, or MOHAWC, while also influencing future platforms like HACM.

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Luckily, the Air Force just wrapped up a stunning final test of scramjet-powered Hypersonic Airbreathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) missile, a program it calls the most successful of its kind in U.S. history. Australia will also provide test infrastructure for HACM’s initial all-up-round flight tests, as its contribution to the SCIFiRE agreement. Air Force officials said earlier this month that ARRW’s upcoming test would be its last, and the service plans to wrap up its rapid prototyping program this year. The service requested no funding to procure ARRW, nor conduct any research and development, in 2025. In a follow-up statement, Lockheed Martin said it is ready to deliver ARRW technology or other hypersonic capabilities to the Air Force. In a statement to Defense News, an Air Force spokesperson said a B-52H Stratofortress carried out the test of the fully operational ARRW prototype, referred to as an all-up round test, after taking off from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.

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The service has discussed similar efforts underway in its hypersonic portfolio but has not yet named HACM as a central project. In July 2019, Aviation Week reported on the existence of two classified hypersonic programs that use the acronyms HACM and HCCW, but said the Air Force would not divulge information about either. The Air Force declined to identify the test’s objectives, but said it “gained valuable insights into the capabilities” of the Lockheed Martin-made hypersonic weapon.

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The US Air Force (USAF) has awarded a contract to Raytheon Missiles & Defense and Northrop Grumman team for the first hypersonic attack cruise missile (HACM). Delivery of the first hypersonic attack cruise missile capability with operational utility is expected by 2027. This two-stage design concept is also one that has been utilized in the development of other air-breathing hypersonic test vehicles in the past. This includes Boeing's aforementioned HyFly 2 and that company's missile-like scramjet-powered X-51 Waverider hypersonic test vehicle. In the foreground of the picture, seen at the top of this story, is what appears to be a previously unseen hypersonic air-breathing cruise missile design. At Mach 2.9, the Onyx is fast, but nowhere near as fast as the Zircon, which is propelled to hypersonic speeds—in excess of Mach 5.

In addition to the photos, another social media user on Twitter (above) pieced together several Notices to Airmen and Navigation Warnings in the vicinity of Kwajalein Atoll. Notices to Airmen, also known as NOTAMs, are meant to temporarily keep civilian aircraft out of a described area for a particular amount of time, such as a missile test. Navigation warnings, or NAVWARNs, similarly apply to sailors, commercial shipping, and private shipping. Together, the NOTAM and NAVWARNs issued cover not only the projected flight path of a missile from the launch point to Kwajalein Atoll, but the flight areas of special aircraft that would monitor the test—particularly the launch and terminal impact phases. The Air Force planning to integrate HACM on the F-15E and F/A-18F in FY25, budget documents say. The Air Force is moving forward with a new Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile as one of its top two hypersonic weapons programs, Weapons Program Executive Officer Brig. Gen. Heath Collins said in a recent interview.

This allows them to engage targets, especially time-sensitive ones, faster and gives opponents less time to react as a result. The extreme speed of these missiles, which are also expected to be capable of making irregular course changes and being retasked in flight, also complicates any attempts to intercept them, making them very hard to defend against. What makes the HAWC, and other missiles like it, so impressive is it’s powered by a scramjet engine, which works differently than your standard subsonic—or even ramjet— engine.

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Specific details about the Raytheon/Northrop Grumman design that was tested under HAWC and the one that the two companies are now developing under HACM are limited. Kwajalein Atoll is a U.S. government test site in the Marshall Islands—an independent country. The atoll supported several atmospheric nuclear tests in the 1950s, and is now part of the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site.

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Because it operates at such high speeds, the engine uses an inlet to force in supersonic compressed air (ramjets only use subsonic air through the system) before it mixes with hydrogen fuel, allowing the engine to achieve Mach 5 speeds and beyond. This excessive speed makes hypersonic missiles exceedingly deadly, as they’re capable of outrunning most modern air defense systems (a doomsday scenario the U.S. is also trying to mitigate). HACM is a tactical weapon designed to be used on day one of a large-scale conventional conflict. “HACM will provide our commanders with tactical flexibility to employ fighters to hold high-value, time-sensitive targets at risk while maintaining bombers for other strategic targets,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown said in an Air Force statement last week.

The broad understanding of how HAWC, and by extension HACM, will function is that the booster will help accelerate the complete weapon to an optimal speed before falling away. Scramjets do not function effectively at lower speeds, requiring an initial boost up to high Mach velocity. Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an aerospace and defense company that provides advanced systems and services for commercial, military and government customers worldwide. The company, formed in 2020 through the combination of Raytheon Company and the United Technologies Corporation aerospace businesses, is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Raytheon and Lockheed Martin are also, separately, pursuing air-breathing hypersonic missile work under HAWC (Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept), a joint program between the Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The contract carries Raytheon through weapon system design and development and the initial delivery of HACM test articles.

That progress will be needed if the U.S. military hopes to match the might of other hypersonic missile programs currently in development around the world. The U.S. Air Force is hard at work on a next-gen hypersonic bomber, and even commercial aviation is looking for ways to push planes into Mach 5 and beyond. But the most pressing issue is to counter the world’s growing (and terrifying) chorus of hypersonic weapons. The training event at Edwards also simply highlights the Air Force's commitment to developing and fielding hypersonic weapons in the near term and how it is laying the groundwork to be able to employ them operationally. It also underscores how important the service views them as part of its future arsenal, especially in the context of a potential high-end conflict against China in the Pacific.