U.S. Unknown Missile Project
RGPWS
MDA taps industry to build interceptor to defend against hypersonic threats
“WASHINGTON — The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is tapping industry to design and build an interceptor capable of defending against regional hypersonic weapons threats, releasing a draft request for proposals to build prototypes.
The request directs industry to submit whitepapers by March 19 to build a Hypersonic Defense Regional Glide Phase Weapons System interceptor, with plans to select at least one prime contractor to build a prototype that would culminate in a flight test, according to the draft RFP with an updated issue date of Jan. 30 and posted to sam.gov, the federal government’s contact opportunities website.
The agency notes that negotiations following review of whitepapers and oral presentations could result in no awards, one or multiple.
By building a flight test vehicle under the program, MDA hopes to better understand the technical utility of such a regional hypersonic defensive system and “will provide a pathway to subsequent tactical interceptor and fire control capability,” the document states.”
Sources To Watchout For Regarding Some of These Projects
There is some confusion that I have found out on the web just to inform other people here and this might probably destroy these websites credibility so here we go.
USAF B-52 in carry test of hypersonic ARRW missile
HCSW although it was cancelled was not an air-breathable engine.
The First U.S. Hypersonic Weapons: Arrow and Hacksaw
This source claimed mach 20 for quite a small missile. I was going to let it slide here and post the source but when it was referencing to be 4 times faster than the Kinzhal than that is basically saying mach 40 to mach 48 so in the trash bin this source goes.
Russia’s Missile Projects
Kinzhal
Kh-47M2 Kinzhal (“Dagger”)
“It has a claimed range of more than 2,000 km, a speed of more than Mach 10, and an ability to perform evasive maneuvers at every stage of flight carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads”
Since everyone likes to compare the Kinzhal to the Iskander, I only see one comparison however the speeds and ranges of them both are different.
Оперативно-тактический ракетный комплекс 9К720 'Искандер'
“The 9M723 missile is a solid fuel, single-stage missile with a warhead inseparable in flight. The missile is controlled along the entire flight path using aerodynamic and gas-dynamic rudders. The 9M723 flight path is not ballistic, but controllable. The rocket is constantly changing the plane of the trajectory. It is especially active in maneuvering in the area of its acceleration and approach to the target - with an overload of 20 to 30g.
In order to intercept the 9M723 missile, the anti-missile must move along the trajectory with an overload two to three times higher, and this is almost impossible. Most of the flight path of a rocket manufactured using the Stealth technology and having a small reflecting surface passes at an altitude of 50 km, which also significantly reduces the likelihood of its destruction by the enemy.
Russian Iskander-M Missile System: Credible Deterrent
“Following a relatively flat trajectory, the missile never leaves the atmosphere as it. False targets and small jammers separate from the rocket upon approaching the target. Iskander-M carries a complex of electronic warfare jamming devices, both passive and active, for the suppression of the enemy's radar. As such, the missile is extremely difficult to intercept with current missile defense technologies.”
- Kinzhal and Iskander perform maneuvers throughout their entire flight paths. Gas-dynamic is just a similar fancy term called, “thrust vectoring.” This means that every stage the missile is in the directions keep changing. This makes it a difficult target to intercept because guidance systems keep getting thrown off.
- Stealth technology with small reflecting surfaces and the usage of small fins.
- The Iskander does not leave the atmosphere because of a flat trajectory, which might suggest the same for the Kinzhal giving it a low altitude flight ceiling.
- The Iskander uses EW devices to suppress radars trying to track and intercept the missile.
Zircon
These are way more difficult missiles to intercept than your average boost glide vehicles. If I was to compare it to the Kinzhal it could have those features offered as well but with 3 more additional points added.
- Lower altitudes with better ability to deal with air density and drag, which makes it a more difficult target to track for ground radars using radar horizon, or satellite systems trying to track it.
- 1st stage brings it to its flight ceiling, but unlike ballistic missiles where no additional stages are given once they reach their flight ceilings, scramjet missiles use their 2nd stage engines throughout their entire flights meaning they have no slowdowns compared to ballistic missiles.
- Lower altitudes and high speeds create plasma density conditions favorable for stealth making the missile a difficult target to track.
They were the 1st country to field a scramjet missile known as the kholod project which French and U.S. took part in collecting the data of the experiment. Russians have been fielding air-breathable missiles for quite a long time and have made alot of significant improvements such as if you were to look at the Brahmos-NG, Igla Scramjet models, and their Mak 2019 airshow demonstration, they have downsized their missiles, while we have left to see how far the U.S. has gone in this field of missile technology.
Russian developers to increase the speed of Zircon Missile over 10 mach
Their developers are trying to make the missile reach mach 10, and altitudes of the missiles flight ceiling have been listed at 40kms. So lets see how temperatures and altitudes effect radio waves.
Aerospaceweb.org | Atmospheric Properties Calculator
Put mach 10 for velocity, 32 degrees Fahrenheit for temperature increment and 40kms for altitude. Than the 2nd section will tell you that the total temperature for the heat shield is 5630.6759 Kelvin. And such plasma density can effect radio waves all in the fire control range. Such is the intent of why speeds for the Zircon missile for each tests keep on increasing and increasing.
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/na...
As we can also see around 40kms or 130,000ft according to this graph the RCS conditions are favorable for the aluminum sphere being dropped going from -12 to -25 decibels. The effects of frequency wavelength for the RCS of spheres does not apply which is why they are usually used for test objects for radars most of the time. But material of an object is also import regarding RCS because one object of a similar size compared to the other might have a higher RCS because of more radio reflection.
Also the Zircon missile stays cruising at 40km altitudes, it does not drop like the sphere which the plasma conditions are always favorable for the missile. Russia’s physicists have also found a way to still communicate with objects in a high density plasma condition like re-entry vehicles.
Russian Physicists Solve Radio Black-Out Problem for Re-Entering Spacecraft
Avangard
Russia's Avangard hypersonic missile system has entered service
“Tracing its origins back to US President Ronald Reagan's 'Star Wars' space-based laser missile defence concept, the Avangard is based around a radically advanced Scramjet engine design, which enables the system to deliver both nuclear and conventional payloads at speeds of up to Mach 20.
Capable of manoeuvring while in flight, the system is essentially invulnerable to any existing or prospective missile defence system. This makes it an important element of Russia's strategic deterrent, guaranteeing a Russian response in the event of aggression against the country.”
I am not trying to add insult to injury by show a failed project that could not reach 1/3rd of its entire flight because of heat stress, but I just wanted to show that there are some similarities between the HTV-2 and Avangard. And that is one rides on top of the Minotaur 4 ICBM and the other rides on top of a R-36M2 and once they reach a 100km+ altitude in the launch phase they are released. My current problem is when either the HTV-2 or Avangard is compared to MIRV where I have a slight disagreement because of this.
MIRV gets released on re-entry. If you were to look at the flight ceiling of an ICBM they are usually around 1000kms, than after that the MIRVs will separate. But the HTV-2 and Avangard get released about 1/10th of the way before traveling 1000s of kms and to me this quite a significant difference.