OpFires

Operational Fires (abbreviated as OpFires) is a hypersonic ground-launched system developed by DARPA for the United States Armed Forces.[3] The system deploys a boost glide vehicle. The prime contractor for the program is Lockheed Martin.[4] Range is thought to be up to 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers).[5]

Operational Fires (OpFires)
TypeHypersonic glide vehicle medium-range ballistic missile[2]
Place of originUnited States
Service history
In serviceIn development
Used byUnited States
Production history
DesignerDARPA

OpFires intends to produce a medium-range hypersonic missile that is cheaper and with less range than the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) to strike larger numbers of targets at operational ranges. It will reuse the glide body from the AGM-183 ARRW. The unique aspect of OpFires is use of a "throttleable" rocket motor, where thrust can be turned off at a desired point mid-flight instead of needing to wait until all fuel is burned to make it better able to hit a short-range target.[6]

The system was successfully tested in July 2022 from a Palletized Load System-based launcher vehicle at White Sands Missile Range.[4][7]

See also

References
  1. https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/news/features/2020/lockheed-martins-hypersonic-opfires-missile-has-medium-range-covered.html
  2. https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/news/features/2020/lockheed-martins-hypersonic-opfires-missile-has-medium-range-covered.html
  3. "Operational Fires Program Successfully Completes First Flight Test". July 13, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. "DARPA's OpFires programme completes first flight test". Army Technology. July 14, 2022. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  5. https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2022/08/darpa-updates-on-opfires-hypersonic-missile-test/
  6. DARPA’s Hypersonic OpFires Aims For Army 1,000-Mile Missile. Breaking Defense. 23 October 2020.
  7. Helfrich, Emma (July 13, 2022). "The U.S. Just Racked Up Two Successful Hypersonic Missile Tests". The Drive. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.