Pentagon struggles with Dark Eagle hypersonic missile tests
The Pentagon still lacks sufficient data to assess the operational effectiveness and resilience of the Dark Eagle hypersonic missile, reports The War Zone. This raises questions about the future of the United States' hypersonic weapons, which lag several steps behind Russia and China in this area.
The U.S. Department of Defense is still unable to definitively determine how effective and resilient the Dark Eagle Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) missile is, which is part of the American long-range hypersonic weapon system. This information was included in the latest report by the Office of the Director, Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E) for the fiscal year 2024. This is not the first official document to cast doubt on the future of U.S. hypersonic weapons. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, published in mid-2024, also highlighted existing problems, including delays in the system's implementation.
The American race for hypersonic weapons
Efforts to develop an effective long-range hypersonic weapon system, Dark Eagle, have been ongoing in the United States for years. The prototyping of this weapon began in 2019, and a few years later, in 2021, Lockheed Martin delivered the first LRHW battery to the U.S. Army. However, the first attempt to launch the Dark Eagle hypersonic missile, an essential component of the LRHW system, was scheduled for March 2023 but did not take place due to battery failures. As noted by The War Zone, in 2023 alone, the U.S. Army canceled planned Dark Eagle launches three times, mostly due to launch system issues.
It was not until 2024 that the United States successfully tested the system. The DOT&E report indicates, however, that the tests conducted so far have not provided enough data to fully assess the operational effectiveness, lethality, and resilience of the LRHW.
Moreover, the Pentagon admits that uncertainty in the tools to assess effectiveness may require the use of a greater number of missiles to destroy targets, significantly increasing operational costs. There is also a lack of data on the system's resilience to electromagnetic, cyber, or kinetic threats, which are crucial for evaluating the missile's survivability in real conflict conditions.
Dark Eagle - what is known about the system?
The LRHW weapon is a ground-based system comprising, among other components, a hypersonic missile, transport equipment, support systems, and a fire control system. The range of the LRHW is approximately 1,864 miles, and the launched missile is expected to travel at a speed of over Mach 5, or about 3,728 miles per hour.
The U.S. Army expects that the missiles of the LRHW system will be able to reach the edge of Earth's atmosphere and remain just out of the range of enemy air and missile defense systems until they are ready to strike. This approach deprives adversaries of certainty about the final target of the attack, while minimizing their reaction time to emerging threats.
Each Dark Eagle battery is expected to consist of four TEL-type (Transporter-Erector-Launcher) launchers, capable of rapid movement and deployment in the field. Each launcher will be equipped with two missiles housed in special launch containers.
It is also worth mentioning that the same missiles under the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) program will be used by the U.S. Navy on board Zumwalt-class destroyers and Virginia Block V-class submarines. This integration allows for the deployment of hypersonic weapons across different domains—both land and sea.
Although the United States plans to implement Dark Eagle by 2027, the future of this project remains uncertain, causing the U.S. to fall behind Russia and China in the race for hypersonic weapons. Both countries already possess such capabilities. Moscow's arsenal includes the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal and 3M22 Zircon missiles, while Beijing primarily fields the DF-27 missiles and their air-launched variant, the YJ-21.
