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The Navy has now released additional information on the earlier hypersonic tests at Wallops Island in Virginia. Both of these tests have helped inform the development of what has since evolved into the Dark Eagle and IRCPS weapon systems. FE-2 was another hypersonic boost-glide vehicle test conducted in 2020 using a three-stage ground-launched STARS booster. FE-1 refers to a test of a hypersonic boost-glide vehicle using a booster fired from an unspecified Ohio class submarine in 2017. This flight test is part of an ongoing series of flight tests as we continue to develop this technology.įlight Experiment-1 (FE-1) and Flight Experiment-2 (FE-2) are also mentioned in this passage from the report. Delivering hypersonic weapons remains a top priority, and the department remains confident that it is on track to field offensive hypersonic capabilities beginning in the early 2020s. Experiments and tests – both successful and unsuccessful – are the backbone of developing highly complex, critical technologies at tremendous speed, as the department is doing with hypersonic technologies.
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Program officials have initiated a review to determine the cause of the booster system failure to inform future tests. The missile booster is used for testing purposes only. The booster stack used in the test was not part of the hypersonic program and is not related to the Common Hypersonic Glide Body. The test did not occur as planned due to a failure of the booster stack.
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21, the Department of Defense conducted a data collection experiment from the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska, Kodiak, AK, to inform the department’s hypersonic technology development.
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