About Dark Eagle Hypersonic Missile:
- The Dark Eagle, also known as the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), is a non-nuclear, ground-launched hypersonic missile system of the United States Army.
- It is the United States Army’s first operational hypersonic missile
- The missile component of the LRHW is being developed by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.
- The weapon is designed to strike heavily defended, time-sensitive targets, including command centres, air defence networks, missile launchers, naval facilities, and logistics hubs deep inside contested territory.
- Features:
- It comprises a mobile ground-based battery equipped with four Transporter Erector Launchers (TEL), supported by command and control elements, with each TEL capable of launching two missiles for a total of eight.
- At the core of the Dark Eagle system is the Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB)—a boost-glide vehicle capable of exceeding Mach 5 while performing high-G maneuvers to evade enemy missile defenses.
- The missile is launched via a two-stage solid-fuel booster that propels the glide vehicle into the upper atmosphere before it descends toward its target on an unpredictable trajectory.
- The glide body is equipped with a conventional high-explosive warhead, optimized for kinetic strike effects and capable of neutralizing hardened or deeply buried targets.
- The guidance system incorporates a precision inertial navigation system (INS), likely augmented by GPS-based corrections during the boost and glide phases.
