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US Increases Hypersonics Budget Request 136%

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posted on Mar, 1 2018 @ 02:22 PM
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The Pentagon will ramp up research on hypersonic weapons with a stunning 136 percent increase in the 2019 budget request. Here’s the breakdown of the $257 million:

$139.4 million, the lion’s share, goes to the Air Force-DARPA collaboration on rocket-propelled hypersonics, Tactical Boost Glide (TBG), which will produce an “operational prototype” by 2023;

$14.3 million goes to Air-Force work on jet-propelled hypersonics, the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC), which DARPA is hoping the Navy will join.

$50 million goes to a new joint venture with the Army called Operational Fires (OPFIRES), part of the Army’s new emphasis on long-range artillery and missiles; and

$53 million goes to the Advanced Full Range Engine (AFRE) for future hypersonic vehicles.
DARPA wanted more money, director Steven Walker said bluntly, particularly to build up an R&D infrastructure currently half the size of China’s. But, he said, this budget is “a good first step.”

Walker ranged widely over DARPA’s portfolio in his breakfast with the Defense Writers’ Group, from artificial intelligence, where he denied the US is falling behind China, to DNA mapping, where he admits China is ahead; to his recent visit to Ukraine, where DARPA is working on some information warfare projects, he said.


breakingdefense.com...

This, folks, is how we lose our edge: by jerking off and claiming we are the greatest while diddling away the huge leads we have had for ages. 25 years of administrations have blown our lead. Yet, we hear, even here, over and over again about "MURICA!"

The HAWC and the AFRE budget requests are actually depressing in size: HAWC ought to be significantly higher. I realize it's possible AFRE will transition something from the Black to Gray or even white, but...

I note that I don't see the Navy's hypersonic missile here. That was fired from a sub relatively recently, but not much has been said.



posted on Mar, 1 2018 @ 02:44 PM
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a reply to: anzha

I bet we already have them...but releasing this boogyman just got a whole bunch more money

I dont trust bs that is this easy



posted on Mar, 1 2018 @ 02:46 PM
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a reply to: BlueJacket

This...easy?

What do you mean? Hypersonics?



posted on Mar, 1 2018 @ 02:54 PM
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a reply to: anzha

Im sorry Im on a phone. Its just that the Russian story comes out and then this reactive "omg what can we do?"

Then the big cash drops ..we have airline manufacturers working on this, I just dont believe our team has truly been caught with their pants down..thats all



posted on Mar, 1 2018 @ 02:56 PM
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a reply to: BlueJacket

The big cash drops have been in the works for many many months. Hypersonics have been at the forefront of the tech wish list for years. You don't see a news story than out of the blue increase budgets that much.



posted on Mar, 1 2018 @ 03:05 PM
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a reply to: Zaphod58

right but you yourself made a thread not so long ago involving a cool new scramjet /hypersonic plane where you kindly taught me a lot regarding scram tech.

I guess all Im implying, is thst I doubt we are so far behind
as mentioned.

Im very pro development, btw



posted on Mar, 1 2018 @ 03:07 PM
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A couple with B-21 and futur air launched tactical boost glide will be surely a game changer .



posted on Mar, 1 2018 @ 03:16 PM
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a reply to: BlueJacket

Hypersonics are really complicated. No one has a particular lead in reusable hypersonics right now. That's the stumbling block, reusable. We're way behind on one time use technologies. India has a hypersonic antiship missile close to ready. Granted, they based it off work with Russia, but still. It will even be capable of being fired from aircraft.

China currently has the DF-21 missile that can be used as an antiship missile, or carry a boost glide weapon.

Now where the field is leveled is when you start talking about aircraft and reusable systems. In that area, you're right, we're not that far behind, simply because no one has been able to figure out the materials, or how to get an engine to work at subsonic speeds.



posted on Mar, 1 2018 @ 04:43 PM
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originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: BlueJacket

Hypersonics are really complicated. No one has a particular lead in reusable hypersonics right now. That's the stumbling block, reusable. We're way behind on one time use technologies. India has a hypersonic antiship missile close to ready. Granted, they based it off work with Russia, but still. It will even be capable of being fired from aircraft.

China currently has the DF-21 missile that can be used as an antiship missile, or carry a boost glide weapon.

Now where the field is leveled is when you start talking about aircraft and reusable systems. In that area, you're right, we're not that far behind, simply because no one has been able to figure out the materials, or how to get an engine to work at subsonic speeds.


The USA has the simulation technology; supercomputing centers, CFD software like Ansys, wind-tunnels, CAD/CAM software and engineers. It's always the money that's the obstacle. Students can get free education versions of most software and even the research papers in these fields can be found online.

Those problems of materials and and airflow seem simple to solve.



posted on Mar, 1 2018 @ 04:52 PM
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a reply to: stormcell

And yet, they haven't been. The last hypersonic tests all self terminated at 8 minutes into the flight, and several had failures of the engines. And those were rocket boosted hypersonic designs. Going from ground launched to hypersonic is significantly harder.




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