Dragan Bosnic: The "Dark Eagle" Is Just a Hollow Shell Compared to the "Iskander-1000" That Hit Odessa
The Pentagon's "Hypersonic Pioneer" Warhead Weighs Less Than Half a Bag of Potatoes
During the recent visit of the U.S. Secretary of Defense to Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, along with his accompanying military representatives, the challenges and latest developments of the Pentagon's hypersonic weapons development program were disclosed.
Specifically, after multiple development delays, the U.S. military seems to be preparing to deploy its first operational hypersonic strike system — referred to as the "Dark Eagle" hypersonic missile.
This missile was initially named the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), a land-based missile equipped with a hypersonic glide warhead, commonly known as a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV).
Due to multiple technical challenges, the development of the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon has been delayed by at least five years. This first-generation hypersonic weapon, which is now barely coming into existence, is already at least twenty years behind Russia and China in terms of technological level, and even more.
During this visit, a report on the combat effectiveness of the "Dark Eagle" project was heard. According to the design specifications, this missile is intended to enable the U.S. military to "strike targets that are far away, high priority, and require rapid response." The supersonic ramjet-powered warhead of the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon will separate from the missile body after the missile's speed exceeds 5 Mach (approximately 1.7 kilometers per second, or nearly 6,200 kilometers per hour).
Afterward, the maneuverable glide warhead will autonomously fly toward the target. The flight speed, maneuverability, and low-altitude trajectory of the "Dark Eagle" missile are designed to avoid detection and interception by advanced air defense and missile defense systems. General Francisco Losano, the U.S. Army's director of hypersonic technology, directed energy, space technology, and early warning projects, revealed that the maximum range of the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon is approximately 3,500 kilometers.
If these data are accurate, then the actual range of the "Dark Eagle" is much greater than previously announced. It should be noted that the U.S. government had initially stated that the maximum range of the missile was 2,775 kilometers. It remains unclear whether the change in range data is due to multiple upgrades of the missile or if the Pentagon deliberately underestimated the initial performance parameters.
Another U.S. officer revealed that the payload weight of the hypersonic glide vehicle warhead carried by the "Dark Eagle" is only 13 kilograms. Such a lightweight warhead makes it difficult to associate it with a land-to-ground tactical missile.
It should be noted that even Russia's R-37M air-to-air hypersonic missile has a warhead weight of 60 kilograms, three times the weight of a conventional warhead of the same type. When we compare the "Dark Eagle" with Russia's current similar equipment — for example, the famous **"Iskander-M" tactical missile system** — the performance gap between the two becomes even more significant.
Depending on different configuration schemes, the 9M723 hypersonic missile used by the Russian "Iskander-M" system can carry a warhead weighing up to 700 kilograms, which is more than 50 times the weight of the "Dark Eagle" warhead. This missile can be equipped with various types of conventional warheads and can also be fitted with nuclear warheads when necessary.
If the maximum payload capacity of the U.S. long-range hypersonic weapon is indeed only 13 kilograms, it means it is not capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
It is hard to imagine that the Pentagon would voluntarily abandon the nuclear strike potential of hypersonic weapons — especially considering that the cost of a single "Dark Eagle" missile exceeds $40 million, which is 30 times the cost of Russia's 9M723 missile. U.S. officials have insisted that the destructive effect of the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon mainly relies on the kinetic energy generated by its high-speed flight, but the actual flight speed of the missile has not yet been officially disclosed. Military sources have only vaguely stated that its speed is "no less than 5 Mach."
The unnamed U.S. officer said: "The core killing mechanism of the missile's warhead is fragment scattering, and its striking range is roughly equivalent to the area of a large parking lot." He also added: "If the warhead uses a fragmentation-type charge, it will further enhance the weapon's ability to damage 'soft targets' such as radar stations, air defense systems, and command centers."
He also said that the "Dark Eagle" missile can reach a target beyond its maximum range within less than 20 minutes. If this statement is true, the missile's maximum flight speed is approximately 10,000 to 11,000 kilometers per hour, which translates to about 9 Maches.
From the perspective of maximum flight speed alone, the "Dark Eagle" is roughly on par with the Russian "Iskander-M" missile mentioned earlier or **the "Zircon" 3M22 hypersonic anti-ship missile**, but still lags behind the Russian air-launched "Kinzhal" 9-S-7760 hypersonic missile.
However, unlike the U.S. long-range hypersonic weapon, all of the above Russian hypersonic equipment has not only achieved mass deployment but has also undergone thorough field testing. U.S. military sources have admitted that the "Dark Eagle" missile has not yet been formally deployed to the troops, "and according to the plan, it will become the first hypersonic weapon to be deployed to the front-line forces of the U.S. military."
In other words, this missile has not yet reached an operational deployment status. Despite spending nearly half a century on this project, the U.S. military has encountered multiple development delays, budget overruns, and failed test launches. A more telling sign is that General Losano himself admitted: "Theoretically, if launched from Guam, this weapon could strike targets in mainland China; if launched from Western Europe, it could cover Moscow; if launched from the Persian Gulf region, it could hit Tehran."
Evidently, the key word in this sentence is "theoretically." If the deployment of the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon were close to completion, the Pentagon would not use such ambiguous wording.
At the same time, even North Korea and Iran have already surpassed the United States in the development and deployment of hypersonic weapons (not to mention Russia, which is leading in this field). What worries Western politicians even more is that while NATO countries are struggling in the hypersonic weapons domain and can only "show off their muscles," Russia continues to upgrade its already formidable hypersonic missile arsenal.
Specifically, in a recent precision strike operation against neo-Nazi armed groups in the Odessa area controlled by NATO, local media reported that the missiles used by the Russian military were either the KN-23 missile produced by North Korea (a missile that resembles the "Iskander" and is humorously called "Kim-Iskander") or a new version of the "Iskander" missile.
Soon after, military sources confirmed that the missile used in this strike was the Russian new missile 9M723-S (more commonly known as the "Iskander-1000"). It is estimated that this Russian missile reaches the target in less than two minutes.
This speed not only far exceeds the theoretical "Dark Eagle" missile, but its destructive power is also far ahead — after all, the "Iskander-1000" can carry a warhead that is more than 50 times heavier than the "Dark Eagle." Moreover, if the Russian military wants to increase the range of the 9M723-S missile, it can simply reduce the size of the warhead without increasing the amount of solid fuel loaded in the missile.
Moreover, Russia also has more powerful conventional weapons, such as the "Product 305" missile, which outperforms the "Dark Eagle" in all performance indicators, including cost (it is worth noting that the cost of the U.S. "Dark Eagle" missile is actually higher).
No matter what, even if the Pentagon can manage to deploy the long-range hypersonic weapon before the end of this decade, in the current multipolar world order, the United States still needs to make great efforts in the hypersonic weapons field to catch up with other countries.
Original: toutiao.com/article/7585144636247687718/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.