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The ArcLight program was started by DARPA in 2010 with the goal of giving VLS equipped warships and submarines fast, long-range strike capability via a hypersonic glider. The plan was to use the large diameter booster from the SM-3 Block II as the boost phase for the glider, which would give it a range of at least 3000 kilometers with a 50-90 kg warhead. However due to a lack of funding and many technical hurdles, it was cancelled just a year later in 2011.
But given the various boost-glide hypersonic research programs conducted by the US between 2011 and now, such as the AHW and HTV-2, DARPA feels that they have enough experience with hypersonics to give it another go, this time with a twist. In early 2015 DARPA awarded a pair of contracts for the Tactical Boost Glide (TBG) program. It aims to create an air-launched hypersonic boost-glide weapon that can launch from current platforms within the Air Force. It will also explore the possibility of creating a VLS-compatible version of this weapon for use on current US Navy vessels, effectively resurrecting the goal of ArcLight. They plan a demonstration within four to five years.
A tactical hypersonic weapon is considered essential to keeping the Air Force ahead of it adversaries, as outlined in AF Future Operating Concept released last year. It could be used in conjunction with decoy-jammers (MALD-Js?) to eliminate an enemy's IADS, and potentially even their directed energy weapons. Here is the fictional scenario put up by the Air Force :
From http://www.af.mil/Portals/1/images/airpower/AFFOC.pdf
17 SEP 2035 2230Z
Hypersonic Weapon Attack
Captain Dawson depressed the release button the instant his MMLRs reached their designated launch point. Six thousand miles away from him, his four-ship unleashed 200 pelican-sized vehicles that accelerated to 0.9 Mach and raced toward the enemy coastline. They rapidly aggregated into an evershifting array of decoys and jammers as their networked sensors built situational awareness on the enemy integrated air defense system (IADS). The enemy quickly detected the mass of incoming projectiles, but the constantly changing picture made it impossible to determine the real targets from the decoys. No matter: their networked missiles and longrange directed-energy cannons would soon decimate this futile attack. Destroyed and disabled vehicles began to fall from the sky, but the remaining units reconstituted and continued inbound. The enemy did not detect the approaching hypersonic missiles until it was too late. Under cover of the decoy-jammers, another formation of MMLRs had launched the hypersonic munitions from hundreds of miles away. The enemy IADS, saturated by the formation of decoy-jammers, had missed the one fleeting opportunity to target the high-speed munitions. Now in the terminal phase, the hypersonic missiles streaked into their targets. First to be destroyed was the ground-based high-energy laser that had menaced lowearth orbiting satellites for weeks—a cyber attack had locked its elevator into the up position just seconds before the missiles arrived. Other hypersonic salvos destroyed coastal defense cruise missile batteries and attack-boat pens. Finally the joint forcible entry could commence. Thirty decoy vehicles managed to penetrate the vanquished IADS. Twenty found targets that matched their programmed criteria, striking enemy radar arrays and communication towers with their small integral warheads. The other ten, their fuel expended, self-destructed harmlessly offshore.
Of course this is just a fictional scenario, but you get the idea. The potential for such weapons is huge when properly used, and it would be wise for any military to pursue hypersonic weapons as fast as possible.
Sources:
Next Big Future: Raytheon given more funding for DARPA hypersonic missile project with flight demonstrations within 4 years
http://www.darpa.mil/program/tactical-boost-glide
http://www.af.mil/Portals/1/images/airpower/AFFOC.pdf
DARPA Halts High-Speed, Long-Range Weapon Development Program - Fabio Ghioni & Partners Fabio Ghioni & Partners
But given the various boost-glide hypersonic research programs conducted by the US between 2011 and now, such as the AHW and HTV-2, DARPA feels that they have enough experience with hypersonics to give it another go, this time with a twist. In early 2015 DARPA awarded a pair of contracts for the Tactical Boost Glide (TBG) program. It aims to create an air-launched hypersonic boost-glide weapon that can launch from current platforms within the Air Force. It will also explore the possibility of creating a VLS-compatible version of this weapon for use on current US Navy vessels, effectively resurrecting the goal of ArcLight. They plan a demonstration within four to five years.
A tactical hypersonic weapon is considered essential to keeping the Air Force ahead of it adversaries, as outlined in AF Future Operating Concept released last year. It could be used in conjunction with decoy-jammers (MALD-Js?) to eliminate an enemy's IADS, and potentially even their directed energy weapons. Here is the fictional scenario put up by the Air Force :
From http://www.af.mil/Portals/1/images/airpower/AFFOC.pdf
17 SEP 2035 2230Z
Hypersonic Weapon Attack
Captain Dawson depressed the release button the instant his MMLRs reached their designated launch point. Six thousand miles away from him, his four-ship unleashed 200 pelican-sized vehicles that accelerated to 0.9 Mach and raced toward the enemy coastline. They rapidly aggregated into an evershifting array of decoys and jammers as their networked sensors built situational awareness on the enemy integrated air defense system (IADS). The enemy quickly detected the mass of incoming projectiles, but the constantly changing picture made it impossible to determine the real targets from the decoys. No matter: their networked missiles and longrange directed-energy cannons would soon decimate this futile attack. Destroyed and disabled vehicles began to fall from the sky, but the remaining units reconstituted and continued inbound. The enemy did not detect the approaching hypersonic missiles until it was too late. Under cover of the decoy-jammers, another formation of MMLRs had launched the hypersonic munitions from hundreds of miles away. The enemy IADS, saturated by the formation of decoy-jammers, had missed the one fleeting opportunity to target the high-speed munitions. Now in the terminal phase, the hypersonic missiles streaked into their targets. First to be destroyed was the ground-based high-energy laser that had menaced lowearth orbiting satellites for weeks—a cyber attack had locked its elevator into the up position just seconds before the missiles arrived. Other hypersonic salvos destroyed coastal defense cruise missile batteries and attack-boat pens. Finally the joint forcible entry could commence. Thirty decoy vehicles managed to penetrate the vanquished IADS. Twenty found targets that matched their programmed criteria, striking enemy radar arrays and communication towers with their small integral warheads. The other ten, their fuel expended, self-destructed harmlessly offshore.
Of course this is just a fictional scenario, but you get the idea. The potential for such weapons is huge when properly used, and it would be wise for any military to pursue hypersonic weapons as fast as possible.
Sources:
Next Big Future: Raytheon given more funding for DARPA hypersonic missile project with flight demonstrations within 4 years
http://www.darpa.mil/program/tactical-boost-glide
http://www.af.mil/Portals/1/images/airpower/AFFOC.pdf
DARPA Halts High-Speed, Long-Range Weapon Development Program - Fabio Ghioni & Partners Fabio Ghioni & Partners
