Sturg1647545502 Posted November 18, 2011 Report Share Posted November 18, 2011 Hypersonic rocket reaching anywhere in the world in < 1 hr? http://www.gifsforum.com/images/gif/omg/grand/dat_ass_glass_gif.gif he US Army - yes, Army - has announced a successful test flight by a prototype hypersonic missile. The Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW) demonstrator took off from the island of Kauai on a three-stage rocket booster at 1:30 AM local time yesterday, and splashed down close to its target coordinates some 2,400 miles away at the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll. A Pentagon statement announcing the test said: The vehicle flew a non-ballistic glide trajectory at hypersonic speed to the planned impact location at the Reagan Test Site. Space, air, sea, and ground platforms collected vehicle performance data during all phases of flight. The data collected will be used by the Department of Defense to model and develop future hypersonic boost-glide capabilities. The AHW program is managed and executed by the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command program office in Huntsville, Ala. The booster system and glide vehicle were developed by Sandia National Laboratories and the thermal protection system by the US Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center. The Department of Defense is using AHW to develop and demonstrate technologies for Conventional Prompt Global Strike (CPGS). As part of the CPGS effort, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency [DARPA] conducted boost-glide flight tests in April 2010 and August 2011, results from which were used in planning the AHW flight test. The previous DARPA tests were much more ambitious, attempting hypersonic glides at Mach 20+ as opposed to the Army space-and-missile-defence command AHW's more sedate Mach 8. Both of those cracked up in flight, but evidently they managed to transmit back some useful data. Weapons of this type - so-called "boost glide" projects - have a long history, dating back to Nazi plans for a "Silbervogel" rocket bomber which would circumnavigate the globe by skipping along the top of the atmosphere like a flung stone, dropping a bomb on America as it passed. Down the years other proposals and test efforts have been seen, such as the X-20 Dyna-Soar, the Boost Glide Re-entry Vehicle of 1968, etc. Apart from the failed Hypersonic Test Vehicle trials, DARPA has also lately stated aspirations towards an "Arc Light" boost-glide weapon capable of fitting into the standard launch tubes of US Navy surface warships and able to do Mach 12. The idea of Conventional Prompt Global Strike as mentioned by the Pentagon is to strike targets anywhere in the world, very quickly. This can already be done using an ICBM, which could easily be modified to carry a conventional warhead, but the fear is that ICBM launches could lead to panic and nuclear war - so hypersonics are being investigated instead. This does seem a bit odd as nobody panics when a Tomahawk cruise missile gets fired off, and a Tomahawk can carry a nuke - as can a bomber, as could a boost-glide vehicle. However it means more cash for hypersonic research, and that could lead one day to various excellent things such as better access to space, so one mustn't grumble. ® http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/18/hypersonic_weapon_pacific_test/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahnstoermer1647545488 Posted November 18, 2011 Report Share Posted November 18, 2011 Read about that... wonder when it will be reliably deployable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not Brian Posted November 18, 2011 Report Share Posted November 18, 2011 man science be crazy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyM3rC Posted November 18, 2011 Report Share Posted November 18, 2011 (edited) Weapons of this type - so-called "boost glide" projects - have a long history, dating back to Nazi plans for a "Silbervogel" rocket bomber which would circumnavigate the globe by skipping along the top of the atmosphere like a flung stone, dropping a bomb on America as it passed. And WHERE could the Nazis POSSIBLY have gotten such "out of this world" technology so long ago? Edited November 18, 2011 by RyM3rC :) oops :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturg1647545502 Posted November 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2011 And WHERE could the Nazis POSSIBLY have gotten such "out of this world" technology so long ago? PENALTY FLAG; Illegal post. All replies in this thread must be started and ended with a ":) ". A 5 yard penality from the spot of the foul. Repeat initial post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceGhost Posted November 18, 2011 Report Share Posted November 18, 2011 I'm proud of Brian for not posting "tl;dr" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not Brian Posted November 18, 2011 Report Share Posted November 18, 2011 if it's more than 15 words that's a given Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyM3rC Posted November 18, 2011 Report Share Posted November 18, 2011 And WHERE could the Nazis POSSIBLY have gotten such "out of this world" technology so long ago? http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT2GFDGTQEE7PrF8WnVAd63NPajwaFdX9m7gtKy_AIvg_3jWLlj2w Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturg1647545502 Posted November 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2011 have we learned nothing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87GT Posted November 18, 2011 Report Share Posted November 18, 2011 'merica FUCK YEAH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rally Pat Posted November 18, 2011 Report Share Posted November 18, 2011 So theres no need for the Shagohad anymore? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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