7.09.2023
Three launches set this week from the Cape. Is one a DoD hypersonic missile weapons test?
Launch activity from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station this week is seeing an uptick. As many as three launches are on deck through the weekend. However, one of them is unlike the others in that it could be a possible Department of Defense weapons test: the launch of a hypersonic missile.
According to safety warnings issued Tuesday by the Federal Aviation Administration and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, some kind of space operation is expected from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Wednesday, but none of the active launch providers — NASA, SpaceX, and United Launch Alliance — have any missions scheduled for liftoff.
All signs point to a DoD weapons test:
A notice to airmen of a temporary flight restriction issued by the FAA Tuesday morning states that "no pilots may operate an aircraft in the areas," which stretch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center south to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and east over the Atlantic Ocean. The restriction is scheduled to be in effect Wednesday between 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. EDT.
The closed air space also aligns with an area of "hazardous operations" cited by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency during roughly the same time window. Both of these types of warnings are typically put in place ahead of any launch activity from Florida's Space Coast.
This comes after the Army and Navy's joint attempt to launch a hypersonic missile from the Cape in March was scrubbed by the Department of Defense.
"On March 5, the Department of Defense planned to conduct a flight test from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to inform the department's hypersonic technology development," the Office of the Secretary of Defense told FLORIDA TODAY. "As a result of pre-flight checks, the test did not occur."
What to know about hypersonic missiles:
Hypersonic missiles fly at Mach 5 or faster, or at least five times the speed of sound.
Due to security concerns, the Secretary of Defense's office said it was unable to confirm the exact type of hypersonic system deployed for the Cape test that had scrubbed. The Army, however, has been testing its Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon system, or LRHW, at sites across the country for several years.
“In terms of air defenses, they present an almost insurmountable problem to take them down with traditional air defenses. That's why they're so important to the military,” said John Cain, professor emeritus with the Florida Institute of Technology’s College of Aeronautics.
“You can't hit a hypersonic missile if it's going away from you. It’ll flat outrun anything,” he said.
Cain is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who served as a USAF Weapons School instructor pilot at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, and he flew supersonic F-100 Super Sabres, F-16 Fighting Falcons and F-111 Aardvarks during his military career.
“It’s really hard to shoot down,” he said of a hypersonic missile. “Mach 5 is about 3,800 miles an hour. It's about 63 miles a minute. It's about a mile every second.”
At those speeds, Cain said rigorous testing is critical for DoD and NASA to develop effective engines, heat-resistant construction and accurate avionics.
“The aerodynamic surfaces are so critical. I mean, if you were to have one of them inadvertently move an eighth of an inch, it would spin the missile out of control at those speeds,” Cain said.
The Naval Ordnance Test Unit based at Port Canaveral also conducts missile tests, but those are usually launched from submarines at sea.
Quelle: Florida Today
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Update: 9.09.2023
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US military scrubs hypersonic missile test launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
The reason for the cancellation remains unknown.
A U.S. Government Accountability Office illustration showing the different flight profiles of ballistic missiles, hypersonic cruise missiles, and hypersonic glide vehicles. (Image credit: Government Accountability Office)
A planned test launch of a new hypersonic missile system was scrubbed Wednesday (Sept. 6).
Navigational warnings announcing the closure of Atlantic Ocean airspace east of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida appeared earlier in the week that suggested a test launch would take place between Sept. 6 and Sept. 8.
On Wednesday (Sept. 6), the Department of Defense gave a statement to Florida Today confirming the planned test was, in fact, canceled. No reason for the cancellation was given. "On Sept. 6, the Department planned to conduct a flight test at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, to inform our hypersonic technology development. As a result of pre-flight checks, the test did not occur," a Pentagon spokesperson told Florida Today.
Despite the cancellation, the Department of Defense spokesperson told Florida Today that the test was still useful in providing data for the program moving forward. "The Department was able to successfully collect data on the performance of the ground hardware and software that will inform the continued progress toward fielding offensive hypersonic weapons. Delivering hypersonic weapons remains a top priority for the Department."
As Ars Technica reported, the scrubbed launch was likely a test of the U.S. Army's Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), a land-based missile system. In March 2023, a similar test was likewise planned and scrubbed; that cancellation appeared to have been caused by a battery issue, The War Zone reported. A U.S. Army statement from later that month confirmed that the new hypersonic weapon system was deployed to Cape Canaveral at the time.
Photographers along Florida's Space Coast captured images on Wednesday (Sept. 6) of what appears to be a LRHW launcher stationed at Space Launch Complex 46 on the eastern trip of Cape Canaveral, although it's hard to say for certain what the hardware might be.
The U.S. Navy is developing its own sea-launched version of the system known as Conventional Prompt Strike. In a 2020 statement, the Pentagon's public affairs stated that the new missiles will be able to "strike targets hundreds and even thousands of miles away, in a matter of minutes, to defeat a wide range of high-value targets."
Developing and fielding this class of weapons is one of the Pentagon's "highest technical research and engineering priorities," the statement adds.
Quelle: SC