The US Missile Defense Agency has hired contractors Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin to develop a defense system capable of intercepting hypersonic missiles.

Information about contracts and grants for these developments was posted on the official website of the US Defense Department. 

A total of about $ 60 million has been allocated for three contracts. The goal is to develop an interceptor for a hypersonic hovering unit, which will be guided by a group of satellites and strike a target in the atmosphere while approaching the impact site.

According to the Pentagon, Raytheon Missiles and Defense and Lockheed Martin Corp.

will receive about $ 20.9 million each for the development of this system, and Northrop Grumman Systems Corp.

- about $ 18.9 million. In total, the budget of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense Agency for 2022 has allocated $ 136 million for research, development and testing of the interceptor.

According to the head of the sea-based weapons systems program at the Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense Agency Rear Admiral Tom Draggan, the conclusion of contracts with several competing companies in the American military-industrial complex will achieve the best result in the shortest possible time.

“Many contracts allow us to reduce risks, as we will be able to study different concepts of the industry and make the most of the competitive climate in order to quickly present the most effective and reliable interceptor at the planning stage of the flight for the needs of regional protection against hypersonic weapons,” he quotes. Fox Business TV channel.

Technological failures

At the same time, the US military is trying to create an interceptor missile for hypersonic targets based on existing cruise missiles.

So, in April, acting

US Deputy Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Barbara McQuiston, in her report to the Senate Appropriations Committee's Defense Subcommittee, mentioned the upcoming tests of such a missile.

In her report, she said that the Missile Defense Agency is working with the US Navy to use Raytheon's sea-based SM-6 missile as an interceptor.

The report noted that it will be tested against hypersonic targets in 2024.

  • U.S. Department of Defense

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  • © Anadolu Agency

Recall that American officials have repeatedly admitted that the United States is lagging behind Russia and China in the field of hypersonic technologies.

In December 2019, Mark Esper, who at that time was the head of the Pentagon, noted that the United States was “forced to catch up” with Moscow and Beijing, using “all available financial resources” for this.

In turn, the former deputy head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces, General John Hayten, announced in early 2020 that after many years of research, the projects to develop hypersonic weapons HTV-1 and HTV-2 were not successful and were closed.

In March of this year, the United States Accounts Chamber presented a report according to which Washington does not have the sufficiently advanced technologies that are required to develop hypersonic weapons, and therefore programs for their deployment may be implemented with delays.

For example, a project to create an aeroballistic hypersonic cruise missile AGM-183A ARRW is being carried out with a delay, within which all four planned flight tests were overdue.

In October, the Pentagon's hypersonic program suffered another setback: during tests at the Kodiak Pacific cosmodrome in Alaska, an engine failed at the booster rocket on which a floating unit was installed.

Lack of protection

In mid-October, US Permanent Representative to the Geneva Conference on Disarmament Robert Wood said that Washington has no means of protection against hypersonic weapons. 

“For us, hypersonic technology is a matter of concern.

We do not know how to defend ourselves against this technology, as, incidentally, neither China nor Russia know, "The Washington Examiner quoted the American diplomat as saying.

At the same time, Wood said that the US lagging behind in this area is due to its unwillingness to spur the arms race.

“We were careful not to seek military applications for this technology,” Wood said.

In Russia, in turn, the successful development of hypersonic technologies continues.

So, on November 18, the head of the department, Sergei Shoigu, reported to President Vladimir Putin on the successful firing of a Zircon rocket in the White Sea from the frigate Admiral Gorshkov.

The launch of the Zircon sea-based hypersonic missile was carried out as part of the final cycle of its tests, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Earlier, Shoigu said that the contract for the supply of the Zircon hypersonic missiles to the Russian Armed Forces is long-term.

In an interview with RT, military expert Yuri Knutov emphasized that in order to counter hypersonic weapons, the American military-industrial complex will have to solve the difficult task of creating tracking systems for targets flying at ultra-high speeds.

“This is a very difficult task.

Because the gliding hypersonic unit "Avangard" maneuvers in flight and develops a speed of up to Mach 28.

In flight, the fireball is covered with plasma, which absorbs radar waves.

It can be detected with an infrared thermal imager, but cannot be detected with radar.

But the thermal imager has a very small range, for this reason it is very, very difficult to detect the Avangard unit in a timely manner, "the expert explained in a conversation with RT.

Most likely, the United States will rely on satellite detection systems that will detect the launch of hypersonic missiles, Knutov suggests.

However, due to the short flight time of the rocket, this task will not be easy to cope with.

As for interceptors, now it is hardly possible to create systems that will be able to intercept missiles traveling at a speed of more than 6-7 Makhov, Knutov emphasized.

“Such work will be carried out, they can even give certain results in the destruction of missiles moving at hypersonic speeds, but these speeds will not exceed Mach 6-7, provided that the missiles do not actively maneuver in flight.

The rest of the American interceptors will not be able to hit.

In addition, they will appear at least in five years, not earlier.

During this time, even more advanced hypersonic missiles will be created in the Russian Federation, "said the interlocutor of RT.

In turn, military observer, retired colonel Viktor Litovkin believes that the United States will be able to get a system for intercepting hypersonic weapons no earlier than in ten years.

“To create a complex for intercepting hypersonic missiles, it is first necessary to produce the hypersonic weapon itself, thanks to which various tests of other systems will be carried out.

And with this, the United States has obvious problems, "the expert emphasized in a commentary on RT.

Now, statements of progress in this area are being made by Washington to reassure the American people and the political establishment, Litovkin added.

“At the same time, Russia intends to further develop hypersonic weapons, so some kind of competition between countries and their new complexes and systems of strategic weapons is inevitable.

At the same time, you need to understand that Russia needs such systems to protect its sovereignty, and not attacks on other countries, "the interlocutor of RT concluded.