Army Hypersonic Weapon On Fast-Track to Delivery.

• Author: Roaten, Meredith

As the Army's No. 1 modernization priority, excitement has swelled in recent years about the potential for long-range precision fires--especially hypersonic weapon technology--in great power conflict.

The Army is nearly finished with the development of its first hypersonic system--which can travel at speeds of Mach 5 or higher--and officials are weighing how to prepare for the next steps.

The Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon is on schedule to be in the hands of warfighters by fiscal year 2023, said Army Lt. Gen. Neil Thurgood, director for hypersonics, directed energy, space and rapid acquisition in the office of the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology.

There will be a series of additional test flights before the final certification test flight in 2023, he said. Soldiers received the first prototype hypersonic hardware last fall.

Thurgood noted keeping the technology on schedule has meant not chasing after every idea that could potentially make the system better.

"I'm not trying to get to perfect," he said during a recent Center for International and Strategic Studies event. "I'm trying to get to a solution that kills the target."

However, the service's rapid capabilities office is still gathering innovative ideas from industry even if they don't end up in the final product, he said.

The system has a reported range of 1,725 miles and consists of a ground-launched missile equipped with a hypersonic glide body as well as associated transport, support and fire control equipment, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service titled, "The U.S. Army's Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon."

The land-based, truck-launched system is armed with hypersonic missiles that can travel more than 3,800 miles per hour, according to the report.

The transition of the system from Thurgood's office to a program of record is going to be "seamless," he said. That should save much needed time for production.

"You can't build a prototype weapon system, spin up industry to do that and then say to industry, 'Sorry, we're going to wait two more years for the next [program objective memorandum] cycle,'" he said.

Collaboration across government agencies has also enabled quick technology development. For example, the Army rapid capabilities and critical technologies office is also developing a mid-range hypersonic capability that uses tech that was spearheaded by the Pentagon's Strategic Capabilities Office, Thurgood noted.

"We've...