According to foreign media reports, US Assistant Secretary of the Army Doug Bush said that due to problems with the launcher of the "Dark Eagle" hypersonic missile, the missile deployment plan had to be postponed until next year. In fact, the decision is not surprising that previously planned missile launch tests in March, September and October of this year have all been cancelled. The US military has not previously responded clearly to the reasons for the cancellation of these test launches, which has raised speculation about the length of service of the Dark Eagle missile. In order to explain to the public, the US military chose to be frank about the fact that there was a problem with the missile launcher. It is worth noting, however, that the launcher, which was one of the first parts of the missile to be delivered, became a bottleneck in the development of the missile, which is somewhat ironic. According to the original plan, the end of this year was supposed to be the delivery time of the Dark Eagle missile, but so far the missile has not been tested with full-fledged live ammunition. Another postponement of missile deployment means that the US military's efforts to catch up with China and Russia in the hypersonic field have suffered a major setback. After all, the Russian army has been equipped with a number of hypersonic missiles such as "Dagger" and "Vanguard", and China's "Dongfeng-17" hypersonic missile was also unveiled at this year's National Day parade, which brought tremendous pressure to the US military. Under such circumstances, all major branches of the US military are scrambling to advance the hypersonic missile project, but in addition to the "Dark Eagle" missile, the situation of other hypersonic missile projects carried out at the same time is also not optimistic.
In 2019, the U.S. Navy and the Army agreed to jointly promote the "Universal Hypersonic Glide Body" project, in which the Army is responsible for the development of the "Dark Eagle" missile, and the Navy is responsible for the development of the supporting missile program. The plan is to equip Zumwalt-class destroyers and Virginia-class nuclear attack submarines with both missiles in 2025 and 2028, respectively. However, in October last year, the US Navy test-fired its own hypersonic missile. Although the testers said that the cause had been identified and corrective measures had been taken, the Navy's top brass expressed doubts about whether the missile would be able to enter service as scheduled. The U.S. Air Force is also developing hypersonic missiles, but compared with the other two militaries, the Air Force's project progress seems to be more difficult. In 2017, the U.S. Air Force launched the Hypersonic Conventional Strike** (HCSW) program, which has attracted the attention of the Secretary of the Air Force. However, the HCSW project did not go in the expected direction and was halted in 2020. After a major setback in the HCSW project, the US Air Force continued the development of other hypersonic missile projects, among which the AGM-183A missile project was favored. However, during the test launch, the AGM-183A missile encountered problems such as the failure of the booster to ignite and the failure of the missile to successfully disengage from the pylon. Due to the failure of several test launches, the Pentagon announced that it would not proceed with the project, which means that the AGM-183A missile project has been declared a complete failure. At present, the US Air Force can only hope for the only remaining "hypersonic attack cruise missile" (HACM) project. It is expected that the project may carry out key test flights next year, but it is still unclear whether the test flights will be carried out as scheduled and whether the test flight process will go smoothly.
In the face of multiple difficulties such as technology and funding, the Pentagon issued a warning that if the new full-year budget cannot be approved in time, many of the US military's top research and development projects, including key projects such as supersonic aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles, will be affected. Recently, the United States passed a bill under which all spending would be cut by 1% if Congress fails to pass an appropriations bill by January next year, including funding for U.S. military research and development. This will have a greater impact on a number of ** research and development projects, including hypersonic missiles. It is uncertain whether it will be possible to overcome technical and financial difficulties and develop hypersonic missiles in the future. But one thing is certain: whether the US military succeeds or not, China cannot afford to let its guard down.
The field of hypersonic missiles is one of the focal points of current military competition. Although the U.S. military has suffered setbacks in the development of hypersonic missiles, it cannot ignore the strength of the U.S. military in other military fields. In addition, China has also made progress in hypersonic missile technology, which needs to be vigilant.