The Pentagon will try to fulfill a dream
of the Nazi's: to create a bomb that can be launched into outer space, linger in
orbit, and then be fired at hypersonic speed back to a target on Earth.
During WW II the civilians in Britain
were able to hear the sound of the German V-2 rockets just a few seconds before
they hit; this new bomb will not make a sound; there will be no warning, just
instant death.
These weapons could be launched from
mobile land vehicles, ships, or submarines and would blanket the planet with "ArcLight"
coverage able to deliver an unstoppable 100-lb hypersonic warhead in less than
half an hour from the order to launch.
"DARPA's project "ArcLight" seems
fairly likely to be possible: Mark 41 tubes are used to launch SM-3 ballistic
missile interceptors, which are well-known to be capable of sending small "kill
vehicles" into space at hypersonic-equivalent velocities. Presumably it
would be feasible to replace the kill vehicle on an SM-3 with a BGRV style
hypersonic mini-smartbomb style affair, finally - in a small way - bringing to
fruition the German dream of the 1940s.
DARPA aren't talking about flight in the
atmosphere at all. Instead, a less ambitious BGRV type of effort is requested,
with a smallish naval launch tube type rocket firing the pocket, unmanned
Silbervogel/X-20 into space followed by hypersonic re-entry no more than 2,000
miles away. The US Navy's 8,500 Mark 41 tubes, would be distributed around the
world aboard its cruisers, destroyers and submarines.
On the face of it the idea seems fairly
likely to be possible: Mark 41 tubes are used to launch SM-3 ballistic missile
interceptors, which are well-known to be capable of sending small "kill
vehicles" into space at hypersonic-equivalent velocities. Presumably it
would be feasible to replace the kill vehicle on an SM-3 with a BGRV style
hypersonic mini-smart bomb style affair, finally - in a small way - bringing to
fruition the German dream of the 1940s."
Pentagon looks to revive Nazi space-bomber plan
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'Antipodes raid' hyper-smartmissiles sought
Posted
in Physics, 22nd
April 2010 15:27 GMT
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/22/boost_glide_arclight/page2.html
In general, though, the mission of global
strategic strike is already well covered by more conventional ICBMs, as global
surveillance is by spy satellites. But a nuclear-armed ICBM is a rather
unsubtle tool, and even one fitted with a smaller conventional warhead would
tend to cause global panic as it lifted off and streaked around the world to
its destination - not to mention being rather expensive for routine use against
modern Wars-on-Stuff type targets such as suddenly-emerging terrorist bigwigs
or similar.
But more reasonable existing kit like submarine- or
warship-launched cruise missiles or jets loaded with smart bombs is no good
either. These things can take hours to arrive at the spot marked X, by which
time the elusive terrorist, stolen WMD or whatever may have melted away again.
What's wanted, according to DARPA, is
something which would fit into a US naval Mark 41 vertical launch tube of the
sort used to pop off existing slowpoke Tomahawk cruise missiles. But it would
have to carry a much smaller and more surgical 100-lb warhead, which would
travel enormously faster - a minimum of 9,200 miles per hour, the equivalent of
Mach 12 if we were talking about travel at sea level.
Mach 12 is far, far into the regime of hypersonics,
faster than even the most exotic hydrogen-fuelled scramjets have yet flown.
Such a missile could never be put into a Mark 41 launcher even if it could one
day be built. DARPA's previous plan for a Mach 6 aeroplane running on normal
fuel was cancelled on grounds that nobody really thought it was possible, and
the ongoing X-51 WaveRider scramjet test vehicles - now delayed into this year
- aren't expected to go faster.
