He United States Department of Defense confirmed that the Army “successfully” completed an “end-to-end” flight test of a long-range conventional hypersonic missile, which happened less than 300 miles from northeast of Puerto Rico.
According to the data provided to The New Day for the Caribbean Astronomy Society (SAC)the launch of “Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon”, known as “Dark Eagle”from Cape Canaveral, in the state of Floridatook place at 12:30 p.m.
The test launch took place about ten minutes after the security alert came into effect. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which restricted pilots from flying in the flight path of the long-range missile.
“This test builds on several flight tests in which the common hypersonic glide body achieved hypersonic speed at target ranges and demonstrates that we can put this capability in the hands of the warfighter,” said Secretary of the Army, Christine Wormuthin a press release.
The Department of Defense confirmed that this is the second test successfully completed this year and was the first live-fire event for the long-range hypersonic weapon system using a battery operations center and transporter launcher.
In interview with The New Daythe scientific communicator of the SAC, Eddie Irizarrymentioned that “People who were close to the area managed to capture the moment the missile was launched and, in fact, it is preliminarily understood that the test they carried out was successful, at least preliminarily.”
“One of the things that caught our attention is that there are some pages that monitor air traffic and, in fact, it was seen that There was a fairly large space to the north of Puerto Rico and to the northeast of Puerto Rico, which was notable for the absence of airplanes in that area.”, he stated.
Airspace was restricted
“There was a space in air traffic and it was as part of that alert that the FAA had issued. so that they were not flying over that area, especially around the time they were going to launch.”Irizarry mentioned, when asked by this medium.
Along these lines, the divulger explained that “the window of time in which they could initially make the attempt to launch this missile began at 12:20 pm, and practically, it was ten minutes later. That is, at 12:30 pm, that would be the time they launched it.”
For these purposes, he indicated that it is understood that the missile had to have passed very close to the Puerto Rico area “probably about eight minutes after” the launch. At this time, citizens in Puerto Rico have not reported sighting the missile.
“Another thing we noticed is that the only planes that flying over the area were some Department of Defense planes that did appear in the programs that monitor air traffic, but without identifying themselves, which is something common they do when it comes to Department of Defense planes. or military aircraft. They left from San Juan,” he mentioned.
The Dark Eagle missile has a range of between 1,725 and 2,000 miles.and has been tested from the island of Kauai, Hawaii, this year, according to SAC data.
As part of the operation, Irizarry explained in a previous interview with this medium, some vessels were activated that are used to monitor the launches, “in case any waste falls into the sea” that could cause some type of pollution.
One of the ships, called “North Start Responder,” was northeast of Puerto Rico on Thursday, precisely in the area where the test flight would end. Irizarry said the ship left the port of Ponce and was northeast of San Martín Island.
Marks an important milestone
In a press release, the Secretary of the United States Navy, Carlos del Torosaid that “this test marks an important milestone in the development of one of our most advanced weapons systems.”
“As we approach the first delivery of this capability to our Army partners, we will continue to push to integrate Conventional Fast Strike on our Navy surface and subsurface ships to help ensure we remain the preeminent combat force in the Navy.” world, he added.
According to the Department of Defense, the information obtained in this test will be used for the first operational deployment of the hypersonic missile in the Army, as well as for its deployment at sea by the Navy.
The vice admiral Johnny R. Wolfe Jr.director of the Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs, who is the lead designer of the common hypersonic missile, stated that “This test is a demonstration of the fruitful collaboration between the Navy and the Army.”
“(This) has allowed us to develop a transformative hypersonic weapons system that will provide unmatched capability to meet the needs of the joint warfight,” he added.
What the missile consists of: we explain
This type of missile supports military strategy and reinforces the government’s plan to have more lasting advantages for the Joint Force, according to the Department of Defense.
Hypersonic missiles – capable of flying at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5) – provide a combination of speed, range, maneuverability and altitude that allows rapid defeat of targets.
“The responsiveness, maneuverability and survivability of hypersonic weapons is unmatched by traditional strike capabilities for precision targeting, especially in anti-access/area denial environments,” stated Lt. Gen. Robert A. Raschdirector of Hypersonics under the Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office program.
This program serves to rapidly develop land and sea variants of a hypersonic weapons system that meets the critical needs of the joint fight.
The use of a common hypersonic missile and opportunities for joint testing allow the services to meet a more aggressive delivery schedule and save costs, according to the federal Department of Defense.