According to the US aviation weekly website on October 21, the "first joint flight test" (jfc-1) of boost gliding hypersonic weapons conducted by the US Army and Navy on Kodiak Island, Alaska, ended in failure. This test used the "universal hypersonic glider" warhead to integrate with the booster, which failed due to booster failure. Long range hypersonic weapon (lrhw) adopts land-based mobile launch mode (concept diagram) Black Hawk missile in transit The cause analysis is different Foreign media have different opinions on this test. Most media reported that the test was the "first joint flight test" (jfc-1) and quoted the time node previously disclosed by the army. However, Steve Trimble, senior editor of the US "defense insider" website, believes that this test may be "flight Test-3" (ft-3), which does not use real boosters, but uses experimental boosters as in previous flight tests. FT series tests use experimental boosters to verify the performance of hypersonic gliders. JFC test integrates glider with real booster to verify the overall performance of weapon system. Since the development of the army's "advanced hypersonic weapon" program, the U.S. military has conducted five tests on hypersonic gliders, including three successes and two failures. In 2011, the US Army successfully tested the "universal hypersonic glider" warhead under the "advanced hypersonic weapons" project. In 2014, the US Army carried out this test again and failed due to booster failure. In 2017, the US Army and Navy successfully tested the "advanced hypersonic weapon" (FT-1), and then introduced the "long range hypersonic weapon" (lrhw) and "conventional rapid strike" (CPS) projects respectively. In March 2020, the US Army and Navy successfully tested the "universal hypersonic glider" warhead (i.e. ft-2) again, and still used the experimental booster. In May this year, after announcing the completion of the hot test of the first stage solid rocket motor of hypersonic missile, the U.S. Navy said that "this test is a key node and is expected to promote the joint flight test originally planned by the army and navy in the first quarter of fiscal 2022". According to the analysis, combined with the previous test progress and the news of carrying out the first joint flight test in advance, this test may be the "first joint flight test" (jfc-1) carried out by the U.S. Army and navy to skip "flight Test-3" (ft-3) in order to catch up with the progress, but the test failed due to insufficient preparation. In addition, according to the information disclosed before the test, the control area of this test spans 6000 kilometers from Kodiak Island in Alaska to kwajalin atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Therefore, it is speculated that the range of the "general hypersonic glider" warhead is close to this distance, which belongs to the "strategic range" specified by the U.S. Army. Simultaneous implementation of multiple projects At present, the US military is simultaneously carrying out four hypersonic weapon projects, namely "air launched rapid response weapon (arrw)", "hypersonic air breathing weapon concept (hawc)", "long-range hypersonic weapon (lrhw)" and "medium range conventional rapid strike weapon system (ircps)". These projects have their own characteristics. "Air launched rapid response weapon (arrw)" is one of the hypersonic weapon programs of the US air force. It was launched in 2018 and is planned to be completed in four years. The agm-183a missile launched under the project consists of solid fuel rocket booster and wedge glider. According to the latest disclosure, the agm-183a missile weighs about 2.5 tons, is about 5.9 meters long, is about 0.66 meters in diameter, and has an average flight speed of Mach 6.5 to Mach 8. A B-52 bomber can carry 4 to 6 of the missiles. "Hypersonic air breathing weapon concept (hawc)" is a cooperative project between the advanced research projects agency of the U.S. Department of defense and the U.S. air force. It aims to develop hypersonic cruise missiles with a range of more than 1000 km and a flight speed of more than Mach 6. Unlike the hypersonic missiles of the U.S. Army and Navy, the missile uses a scramjet with controllable power throughout the flight. Due to the high technical difficulty, the progress of the project was slow. The first flight test of the prototype was just completed at the end of last month. It is expected that after being installed in the future, the missile will have the combat capability equivalent to that of the Russian "zircon" missile. "Long range hypersonic weapon" (lrhw) aims to develop medium range hypersonic missile with land-based mobile launch, code named "Black Hawk". The maximum speed of the missile exceeds Mach 10 and is mainly used for long-range precision attack on high-value targets. The US Army plans to establish the first "Black Hawk" missile company in 2023. At present, a full set of ground equipment has been delivered to the 5th battalion of the 3rd regiment of the 17th field artillery brigade for relevant training. "Medium range conventional rapid strike weapon system (ircps)" is a hypersonic missile project carried out by the US Navy. The missile adopts the same "universal hypersonic glider" warhead and two-stage rocket booster as the US Army's "long-range hypersonic weapon". In the future, it will be equipped with the US Navy's "jumwalt" destroyer and Virginia class nuclear submarine to carry out precision attack tasks such as land and anti-ship. At present, the US Navy is carrying out adaptive modification of these two types of ships, which is expected to be completed in 2025 and 2028 respectively, forming ship launched and submarine launched hypersonic attack capabilities. Competitive Strategy Considerations Hypersonic weapons have the characteristics of fast flight speed, strong penetration ability and difficult interception. In wartime, they can be used as "door breaking" weapons to attack the opponent's air defense and anti missile system. At present, except that the Russian S-500 anti missile system has the ability to intercept hypersonic weapons in theory, other air defense and anti missile systems can not intercept them. Therefore, hypersonic weapons have become a "sharp weapon" for the development of major powers. In recent years, Russia has developed rapidly in the field of hypersonic weapons and gradually established a land, sea and air strike system based on hypersonic weapons, which has greatly weakened the military advantage of the United States against Russia. In response to this situation, the United States has stepped up its efforts to promote the development of hypersonic technology and listed it as one of the priorities of national defense modernization, with the intention of realizing anti hypersonic in the field of hypersonic weapons and regaining its dominance. At present, aiming at the goal of building a hypersonic strike system with multi domain coverage and multi platform array after 2023, the U.S. military has intensively carried out hypersonic weapon flight tests and accelerated the development and deployment process. However, due to insufficient technical maturity, limited test capability, lack of experience and other factors, the hypersonic weapon test of the U.S. military has failed repeatedly since 2020, and the progress of each project is slow. Therefore, the United States has been trying to return to the development track and form the initial hypersonic capability as soon as possible to offset the strategic advantages of its opponents. At present, this process is being promoted, and the follow-up development deserves attention. (outlook new era)