The U.S. Army expects to deliver — in a little more than 200 days from start to finish — the first hypersonic weapon capability to a unit, a service official said.
While the Army has been working with industry to build the hypersonic weapon glide body industrial base, it has also been producing the launchers, trucks, trailers, and battle operation center needed to put together a ground-launched hypersonic weapon battery.
Lockheed Martin is the weapon system integrator for the Army’s hypersonic capability that will be launched from a mobile truck and Dynetics has been chosen to build the hypersonic glide body portion of the missile.
The only element that won’t be delivered to the unit until fiscal 2023 is live rounds. However, on March 8, Thurgood said he will personally deliver the first two training canisters for the unit to use for end-to-end kill-chain training.
Once that unit has the equipment it needs, it will begin training in October to prepare for the first joint flight campaign test that’s scheduled with the Navy for the first quarter of FY22, Thurgood said. They will also prepare for subsequent tests in the fourth quarter of FY22 and the second quarter of FY23.