Now Reading: US army conducts first hypersonic test with scrapped cannon launcher
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US army conducts first hypersonic test with scrapped cannon launcher
US army conducts first hypersonic test with scrapped cannon launcher
The US Army has carried out the first live-fire hypersonic test using the Heavy Artillery Test System (HATS), a launcher repurposed from the cancelled Strategic Long Range Cannon programme. The July 30…
The Story in Brief
The US Army has carried out the first live-fire hypersonic test using the Heavy Artillery Test System (HATS), a launcher repurposed from the cancelled Strategic Long Range Cannon programme. The July 30 trial at Arizona's Yuma Proving Ground fired only an Integrated Launch Package (ILP), a hardened experimental warhead, instead of a complete hypersonic missile, the Times of India reports.
Engineers tracked the package with telemetry and high-speed cameras. The Army says the test shows the ILP can withstand cannon-launch forces and could lower the cost of hypersonic research, as a full missile test costs between $9.5 million and $15 million.
The Indian Opinion
The HATS test is being sold as a cost-cutting innovation, but quietly buries the failed $1.7-billion Strategic Long Range Cannon programme. India, racing to develop its own hypersonic technology under the Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle, should note that the US could not afford both long-range artillery and hypersonics. The real test is whether a single ILP test at a fraction of a full missile's Rs 13-crore price tag will ever lead to a fieldable weapon.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
