Stars, stripes, rising sun, hypersound and promising plans.
NOTAM Released Before C-HGB Test
Stars, stripes and pathos.
Not so long ago, news feeds circled the news that in the United States on March 19, "a test of the hypersonic planning block was successfully completed." The launch took place from the Pacific test site in the Hawaiian Islands on March 19 at 22-30 local time. The press release, as usual with the Americans, was full of pathos.
Read the translation:
US Army in conjunction with fleet successfully launched the C-HGB (Common Hypersonic Glide Body), which flew at hypersonic speed to a given meeting point. At the same time, the Missile Defense Agency (ANO) monitored and collected tracking data for the flight experiment, which will serve as the basis for its ongoing development of systems designed to protect against hypersonic weapons the enemy. The information obtained as a result of this and future experiments will contribute to the further development of the hypersonic technologies of the Ministry of Defense, and this event is an important milestone on the way to achieving the department’s goal of using hypersonic combat capabilities in the early to mid-2020s.
“This test builds on the success we had during the test on October 1, 2017, in which our C-HGB achieved sustained hypersonic glide at our target distances,” said Vice Admiral Johnny R. Wolfe, Navy Strategic Systems Program Director, who is a leading designer for the C-HGB. “In this test, we put additional loads on the system, and it was able to cope with them all thanks to the phenomenal experience of our first-class team of people from all over the government, industry and academia. Today we approved our design and are now ready to move on to the next stage in creating a hypersonic shock potential.
“This test builds on the success we had during the test on October 1, 2017, in which our C-HGB achieved sustained hypersonic glide at our target distances,” said Vice Admiral Johnny R. Wolfe, Navy Strategic Systems Program Director, who is a leading designer for the C-HGB. “In this test, we put additional loads on the system, and it was able to cope with them all thanks to the phenomenal experience of our first-class team of people from all over the government, industry and academia. Today we approved our design and are now ready to move on to the next stage in creating a hypersonic shock potential.
In general, the US anthem sounds, a striped flag flutters, everyone gets up and throws caps and hats into the air.
Various mourners and self-taught cassandras immediately revived with dull “Yaroslavna’s cries”, usually beginning like this: “Well, that’s it, now America has caught up with us and will overtake us.”
Take a look at the details
But if you look at those details that are known to the public with a sober look, then everything looks different. The first thing we look at is the video provided by the United States Department of Defense. Of course, we did not expect that they would show us all the stages of the flight, and even the C-HGB itself. But we saw that the launch is carried out by a target missile (it is also a light class carrier) STARS, created on the basis of the Polaris-A3 SLBM, which was long ago removed from service with the US Navy (and even the UK). STARS consists of two Polaris solid fuel stages and an ORBUS-1A solid fuel unit. It was used to test satellites of the detection, recognition and targeting system for the US missile defense system, SBIRS - the one with the development of which was such a resounding success that one of the components was decided not to finish, and the second component was renamed twice (in STSS and PTSS), continuously reducing requirements, and now they decided once more to fill up cones on an unsolvable problem and develop a new system. This rocket was then used for one of two launches from the same Pacific training ground, one of the demonstrators of the AHW hypersonic guided planning block technology in 2011. This program was closed after one launch, which was declared successful, and the second, during which the accident occurred. However, the closure after one or two “successful” launches is almost the standard fate of American hypersonic programs of the last decade. What awaits the C-HGB, see.
The second (key) point that you need to pay attention to is, of course, NOTAM - a warning about the closure of air and sea space in the launch area, or, as you know, "the snow will fall."
So, according to the published NOTAM, we see that the closing zone is very narrow, and its length is no more than 2000 km. What is this talking about? The narrowness of the closed zone indicates that there was no maneuvering, the product flew in a straight line. And the flight range of the demonstrator (and this is it, and this is not even a prototype, much less a test before being put into service) was less than 2000 km, and the speed, it turns out, cannot exceed 3-4 km / s, as ballistics teaches us . But this is a ballistic object, and we have a planner here, and its speed is much lower. Yes, and at such speeds and ranges, even a single, not to mention multiple, rebound from the atmosphere, which is used by the planning winged block, design bureau, such as Avangard (15Y71) and the like, is also excluded. If we carefully read the release and the name of the demonstrator, then we will understand that we are talking about the demonstrator of the corps of the probable future PCB. Cases without a control system, without a guidance system and without a target load, too, of course. That is, in general, this is a blank of the form needed for given hypersonic speeds, and nothing more. Of course, with telemetry equipment inside, or a monitoring and recording complex (if suddenly the product is made salvage after start-up, which is doubtful, given the speed of meeting with the surface).
Heroic flight in a straight line
But the test itself and the terrible stressful loads reported by Vice Admiral Wolfe consisted of a decreasing direct flight at the “younger” ranges of medium-range ballistic missiles (which have a range of up to 5500 km), and the loads there were extremely small. The success of the mission is only in the fact that the shape of the case was sufficient so that the disc does not destabilize and does not destroy the stream. But the Americans managed to do this earlier, in particular, with the same demonstrator almost 3 years ago. What they have been waiting for 3 years is not clear. Apparently, at that time success was success only on paper and the disc was redesigned? Perhaps, but for sure we are unlikely to know soon. Work on the demonstrator of the future prototype of the non-nuclear “common” planning block promises to continue, but it may well be able to close the program at any time and open a new one instead, as has recently happened with a number of similar programs. Either because there was nothing to brag about and further elaborate on topics, or simply because the process of "disbursing" funds to someone in Washington is more important than the result.
In general, as they like to say in one TV show, “the myth is destroyed” is the myth of the successful testing of the PCB by the Americans, who “caught up with us”. The case demonstrator was tested without any control system and filling. If the work is to be continued, then for clarity, perhaps, compare this success with the conception and emergence of an embryo with the receipt of a diploma of higher education by this former embryo. The path, of course, may not take 20 something, like a person on the way from a human embryo to a specialist embryo, but it will take a lot of time.
Where the horse with the hoof, there and the Japanese with plans
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Pacific, Japan announced its ambitions in the fashionable topic of hypersonic weapons. Japan has outlined its research and development plan for its homegrown hypersonic weapon. In a Japanese-language document published on the procurement, technology, and procurement agency website, the Japanese government said it would create two classes of hypersonic systems: a hypersonic cruise missile (HCM) and a hypersonic planning block (HVGP). Hypersonic KR will have a solid propellant ramjet engine. And the Japanese design bureau will have a solid propellant rocket launching engine, that is, obviously, we are talking about the launching stage, and not about "motor hypersonic guided planning."
The Agency also provided more detailed information on the payload of these systems, with various warheads being planned for both marine and ground targets. This, of course, is about ordinary charges. The first type will be an armor-piercing warhead designed specifically for penetration through the deck of an aircraft carrier. And the second, designed to attack ground targets, will be equipped with several charges of the shock core. The question is, why create an expensive hypersonic product and put the charges of the shock core there? Then, after flying a long distance, the product destroyed several tanks? Do something, nothing, nowhere to spend money?
Japanese hypersound plans in graphic form
Japanese plans show that the development of hypersonic missile launchers and design bureau must pass so that adoption was adopted in the early 2030s. The agency expects that both systems will focus on satellite navigation with an inertial navigation system as a backup. Japan seeks to create a network of seven satellites to ensure the continuous positioning of its self-defense forces, which will enable it to provide continuous navigation data without relying on foreign satellites. Obviously, we are talking about regional satellite navigation like the Indian system, for example.
Guidance of the planned missiles and missile launchers will be achieved either using a radio frequency image converted from Doppler shift data, which, according to a government agency, will allow the identification of hidden sea targets in any weather conditions, or using an infrared (thermal imaging) GOS. The question immediately arises: how will such a GOS operate under heating conditions during flight even at "lower" hypersonic speeds, such as 5-6M? And the Japanese do not expect more.
Are Japanese plans real? No more than a fifth-generation Turkish fighter, developed entirely independently. That is unrealistic, given the deadlines. Despite the presence of certain competencies in the creation of launch vehicles and satellites, this sphere is something else, and Japan has no competencies in it. They will have to work almost from scratch and themselves - the Americans are unlikely to share information on this issue. Almost from scratch, it’s necessary to create guidance systems operating at such speeds, materials for missile and warhead shells, heat protection, engines, and to work out a control system, and this is the most difficult task. Russia, possessing several generations of developments, moreover, successful, in the field of hypersonic flight and planning and the creation of appropriate weapons, has also gone to the “Vanguard” for many years. And in Japan, in this regard, the horse did not roll. In addition, the Japanese defense industry has several features. Such as the extremely high cost of developing final products, the constant strong exceeding of the test development timelines, the extremely low seriality of products, which further inflates the price. For Japan, the norm is to do 10 years of 6 tanks or 5-7 self-propelled guns or 3-5 infantry fighting vehicles for the army, or 5 aircraft each. They build the fleet quite quickly, but everything else is made of platinum and is made with the speed of production of medieval ceremonial armor. So such products, if they appear, will cost so much that their purchases make little sense.
But, most likely, the Japanese defense industry decided to just a little PR and learn the funds on the new fashionable topic of hypersonic weapons. Which can be quickly forgotten, taking into account the difficult situation in the world, and taking into account the ongoing recession of the Japanese economy and even more so the global one, and simply with the change of the next government. However, time will tell.
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