“It’s ultimately a political decision, and … this demands a strong and fully staffed OSD,” said Mackenzie Eaglen, of the American Enterprise Institute. “That doesn’t seem likely until much later this year.”
By Theresa HitchensGray Eagle is the low-cost, low-risk answer to Army modernization
Gray Eagle STOL and Gray Eagle 25M are the best options for Army aviation as it assesses where to move from its current inflection point.
PrSM is preparing for its first 300-plus-mile flight test this year, while the ERCA cannon and hypersonic LRHW head for key tests in 2023.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
GAO notes that efforts to defend against Russian and Chinese hypersonic missiles are much less mature than offensive efforts, with much less funding. Only 12 of 70 projects tracked by GAO related to defenses; DoD requested $207 million in 2021 for hypersonic defense, up from $157 million in 2020.
By Theresa Hitchens
Meant to target Chinese warships and Russia’s rear bases, the new intermediate-range missile will fill the gap between the 500+ km PrSM and the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
The military services are working together on how to use long-range, land-based missiles to destroy enemy anti-aircraft defenses, says the director of artillery modernization at Army Futures Command.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
This spring’s successful test shots of the Precision Strike Missile and Extended-Range Cannon are just two pieces of a rapidly evolving portfolio of new long-range weapons.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
“We want to deliver hypersonics at scale,” said R&D director Mark Lewis, from air-breathing cruise missiles to rocket-boosted gliders that fly through space.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
ROC-X – The solution to organic precision strike capabilities
At AUSA Global Force 2024, IAI will present integrated, AI-driven combat systems – both manned and unmanned – that are opening new opportunities on the battlefield.
The first four flight tests – one a failure — took nine years. The next five will take less than three years.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
While Army and Navy spending nearly double, Air Force and independent agency spending drops almost 40 percent.
By Theresa Hitchens and Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. The two services will use the same rocket booster and glide body, just packaged differently to fire from trucks vs. ships, with the Army version entering service in 2023.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. The Precision Strike Missile’s rocket booster is so powerful that short-range shots actually put more stress on the weapon than letting it loose to fly its full distance, Lockheed told us.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. Research and development spending on hypersonics will nearly double in ‘21, and it will triple for lasers, as the service rushes to deploy combat-ready prototypes.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
Lockheed Martin is designing what it calls a new Hypersonic Strike Weapon-Air Breathing (which goes by the awful acronym HSW-ab) for DARPA. John Varley, Lockheed’s VP for hypersonic weapons, wouldn’t provide details due to the program’s high level of classification.
By Theresa Hitchens
The Army Modernization Strategy aims to counter Russia by 2028 and China by 2035 — but Congress can’t pass a budget for this year.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
