Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept

rdf:langString Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept

rdf:langString Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC)

rdf:langString Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept

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rdf:langString HAWC Missile Concept Drawing

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rdf:langString In development

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rdf:langString United States

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rdf:langString The Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC, pronounced "hawk") is a scramjet powered air-launched hypersonic cruise missile project at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), that had a successful hypersonic flight announced in September 2021. It is a kinetic energy weapon, without an explosive warhead. The scramjet propelled the missile at "a speed greater than Mach 5 (over 3,700 miles per hour)". The first successful flight was in September 2021. Further testing was carried out in mid-March 2022, but was kept secret at the time to avoid the impression of escalation against Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The existence of the test was revealed in early April 2022. Principal Director for Hypersonics Mike White stated that HAWC would be smaller than hypersonic glide vehicles and could therefore launch from a wider range of platforms. White additionally noted that HAWC could integrate seekers more easily. DARPA requested$60 million for MoHAWC, the successor program to HAWC, in FY2023. On 18 July, 2022, the third successful flight test of the HAWC was reported by DARPA - the missile was able to fly at Mach 5 (6,100 km/h; 3,800 mph) speed at the altitude of more than 60,000 ft (18 km; 11 mi) for more than 300 nautical miles (560 km; 350 mi). Technology developed for the HAWC demonstrator was used to influence the design of the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM), a U.S. Air Force Program of Record to create a scramjet-powered hypersonic missile it could deploy as an operational weapon. The contract to develop HACM further was awarded to Raytheon in September 2022.HACM will use a Northrop Grumman scramjet.