After canceling another hypersonic weapon test in late October, the Army’s top acquisition official has said it’s “very unlikely” the service will meet its goal to field the first operational system by the end of the year.
“I can’t go into details, but it was before launch that the problem was detected. So that’s why the test didn’t happen,” Doug Bush, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, told reporters on Tuesday.
Ellen Lovett, an Army spokesperson, confirmed to Defense Daily the canceled Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) test was scheduled for Oct. 26 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
“The department was able to successfully collect data on the performance of the ground hardware and software that will inform the continued progress towards fielding offensive hypersonic weapons. Delivering hypersonic weapons remains a top priority for the DoD,” Lovett said.
The canceled event last month follows LRHW tests in early March and September at Cape Canaveral that were both called off following pre-flight checks (Defense Daily, Sept. 7).
Following the scrapped test in September, Bush confirmed the Army would not meet its original aim to field the first operational battery of the LRHW by the end of fiscal year 2023 (Defense Daily, Sept. 19).
Bush said on Tuesday the Army is currently conducting a root cause analysis to determine what caused the issue that led to canceling the Oct. 26 test.
“I think we’re close to understanding what exactly the problem was, which will inform our path to getting back to testing,” Bush said. “At the same time, the capability is still absolutely needed. The Army’s still fully committed to it. I think we’ll figure it out.”
The Army’s LRHW, which has been in development for about four years, will share the same all-up missile round and canister as well as the Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB) with the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike program.
In 2019, the Army chose Lockheed Martin [LMT] to serve as the weapon systems integrator for the LRHW, which will be fired from a truck, while Dynetics [LDOS] is tasked with producing the C-HGB.
The Army completed fielding of the ground equipment for its first prototype hypersonic weapon battery, minus the live rounds, in the fall of 2021 to the soldiers from the I Corps’ 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Field Artillery Brigade at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington and who have been testing on the equipment since then.