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After Japan, South Korea chooses the American SM-6 to counter the hypersonic threat

While the eyes of the world remain on the war in Ukraine, tensions in the Pacific theater remain very high, and the major nations involved are redoubling their investment and innovation in an attempt to gain the upper hand over their potential adversaries. Thus, in recent months, the two Koreas have engaged in a tug of war over their respective long-range strike capabilities, successively demonstrating the effectiveness of their new ballistic and cruise missiles, while the China has also implemented new capabilities in this area, including hypersonic and semi-ballistic trajectory weapons. Those…

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DARPA has successfully tested a second model of hypersonic cruise missile

April 6thMay 14th

When in March 2018, Vladimir Putin announced that the Kinzhal hypersonic airborne ballistic missile would soon enter service, all Western armed forces understood that this new technology would quickly become an operational imperative, and that in this area, they had left it to the Russia, but also to China, which the following year presented its own DF17 hypersonic missile, a far too large advance. If the Europeans, as usual, reacted with the speed of a sea cucumber, the Japanese, Australians, South Koreans and especially the United States reacted with speed and determination, quickly implementing programs aimed at acquiring as many quickly of this type of armament. Mon…

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The US Navy will equip its Arleigh Burke Flight IIA destroyers with the new EASA SPY-6 radar

January 11 2022January 11 2022

Like the Ticonderoga cruisers and a number of anti-aircraft destroyers and frigates in service with the United States' allied navies, the American destroyers of the Arleigh Burke class, which today form the backbone of the US surface with 69 ships in service, are equipped with the famous SPY-1 radar, the very one that is at the heart of the AEGIS anti-aircraft and anti-missile system. But this radar, which entered service in the 70s, is beginning to show the weight of the years despite numerous upgrades, which is why the future US Navy destroyers currently under construction, the Arleigh Burke Flight III,…

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The US Army tests a Coyote 3 drone to counter a swarm of drones

18th October

The anti-drone drone has been popular for a few months, and in particular since the Harpy and other Defender 1C of Israeli invoice implemented by the Azeris operators, swept the points of resistance, the DCA and the Armenian artillery a barely a year ago, during the Nagorno-Karabakh war of 2020. Since then, light reconnaissance drones, wandering ammunition and drone swarms have simultaneously become technological challenges which it has become imperative and urgent to acquire quickly, but also threats from which we had to protect ourselves as quickly as possible. Beyond kinetic systems and…

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DARPA's HAWC hypersonic cruise missile successfully completed its maiden flight

September 28, 2021September 28, 2021

In the field of hypersonic weapons, 3 main families of propulsion face each other: hypersonic gliders which are operated by ballistic missiles before being dropped at very high altitude and high speed, and which manage to maintain their hypersonic speed taking advantage of gravity; ballistic or semi-ballistic missiles using rocket engine type propulsion which simultaneously carry fuel and oxidizer to produce thrust; and so-called aerobic systems employing a new type of engine, the Scramjet, which, like a jet engine, uses atmospheric oxygen as an oxidizer to produce thrust. Of course, this last…

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Australia and USA advance design of hypersonic cruise missile

September 6, 2021September 6, 2021

To date, there are three technological approaches to designing a hypersonic missile. The first relies on a missile following a semi-ballistic trajectory, and having enough fuel to maintain its speed until impact. This is the case of the Kh47M2 Kinzhal, an airborne missile derived from the Iskander short-range ballistic missile, which saves the precious fuel necessary for the hypersonic race thanks to the Mig-31K or Tu-22M3 launcher. The second approach is that of the hypersonic glider, a projectile designed to maintain hypersonic speed and maneuverability throughout the descent phase after being brought to very high altitude and…

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US Army prefers Dynetics to Israel's Iron Dome for close air defense

August 25, 2021September 2, 2021

After the demonstrations of strength and efficiency made by the Iron Dome systems to protect Israeli cities from Hamas rockets in recent months, one could reasonably think that the joint offer of Rafael and Raytheon would be preferred by the US Army against to that of the American Dynetics to provide close anti-aircraft protection of US Army sites as part of the Indirect Fire Protection Capacity program, or IFPC. However, it is the latter's Enduring Shield, using the expensive AIM-9X Sidewinder missile at $0,5 million per unit, which was chosen to the detriment of the Iron Dome and its Tamir missile at $190.000. $,…

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TOW, AT4, M4: the US Army will strengthen its anti-tank firepower

June 2, 2021June 2, 2021

Faced with the increased risk of so-called high-intensity conflicts, and the possibility of having to face adversaries equipped with armored vehicles, the US Army has undertaken to modernize its anti-tank arsenal, both in the field of light weapons than medium-range missiles. Today, American forces use 5 types of anti-tank weapons: the AT4 light rocket and the Carl Gustaf M4 recoilless gun of Swedish origin, the FGM-148 Javelin infantry missile, as well as the medium-range TOW missile and the AGM-114 Hellfire heavy missile for armored vehicles and armed helicopters. To modernize this park, the US Army undertook…

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The US Army will test the Iron Dome to protect its vulnerable infrastructure

May 21th

One of the major lessons of the war that pitted Azeri forces against Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 was the great vulnerability of force support sites, such as logistics areas, command posts, and fortifications, in the face of modern artillery systems coupled with reconnaissance drones. And if the Armenian anti-aircraft defenses managed to keep the Azeri fighters at a distance, they were largely idle in the face of the small reconnaissance drones directing the enemy artillery fire. Beyond this example, the increase in range and accuracy of modern and future artillery systems, whether artillery…

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Could a new American fighter enter service as early as 2029?

March 15, 2021March 15, 2021

According to official US Air Force speech, the F35A remains the top equipment priority for years to come, and no program has been launched to replace Lockheed-Martin's aircraft in the very ambitious plan which should make it the only replacement for the A10, F16 and part of the F15 currently in service. As for the Next Generation Air Dominance program, or NGAD (Air force), it is expected for the middle or the end of the next decade in order to replace the F22 Raptors which will then reach their age limit. For the US Navy, the discourse is essentially the same, since the NGAD program…

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