The US could have its new long-range missile operational by 2025; From 2026, Germany will also contribute to deterrence against Russia.
Washington DC – “Although the launch of a missile with the Dark Eagle launcher is an important milestone, the fact that it has only now happened underscores the problems that have plagued the system's development for years,” writes Joseph Trevithick. The author of the magazine The War Zone (TWZ) assumes that the new threat from the USA against China and Russia is in labor pains; The Dark Eagle hypersonic missile has now completed a successful test and could actually compete against Vladimir Putin's new Oreshnik missile.
Russia has expressed great confidence in its hypersonic missile. Putin even goes so far as to say that the development of the Oreshnik brings his country “to the brink of virtually eliminating the need to use nuclear weapons,” as the magazine recently reported Newsweek reported.
Russia's Oreshnik: New missile and a serious threat to the entire world
“As far as we know, the Rubesh was developed exclusively for the use of nuclear weapons.” Its 1,000 to 1,200 kilogram warhead should be equipped with several (three to six) individually guided warheads with a capacity of around 100 kilotons (the most common are three up to four warheads of 300 kilotons each),” wrote Andrei Charuk. The author of the magazine Military thus delivered the news that the new missile that appeared in the Ukraine war as Rubesh or Oreshnik will pose a serious threat – to the entire world. The next piece of bad news came from military guard.
The capability we are developing now, which is land-based, increases flexibility. But that means the Russian threat situation does not change significantly.”
It is estimated that Russia could produce 300 new Oreshnik long-range missiles every year, the magazine writes, citing fears from the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian Defense Ministry. According to this intelligence assessment, Russia could produce up to 25 Oreshnik missiles per month, which would be equivalent to producing 300 missiles per year. The USA is also under pressure to act.
The US Army has now tested its Dark Eagle hypersonic missile from its trailer-mounted launcher, writes TWZ. She had been trying to do this for about two years, so its author Trevithick. The armed forces explicitly cited problems with the launcher as the cause of major testing difficulties – this delayed the commissioning of the new weapon system for years. However, the rocket is scheduled to be handed over to the troops next year.
The US's response to Putin's new missile: Dark Eagle offers a range of more than 2,775 kilometers
In 2021, the plans for the new weapon became ready. The Magazine Break defense had quoted an army spokesman as saying: “The long-range hypersonic weapon offers a range of more than 2,775 kilometers”; This means they outperform the US ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) by around ten times. It is rumored that the Russian Oreshnik could fly 3,000 to 5,000 kilometers. This weapon is planned for the use of mobile rocket launchers on land and at sea from surface ships or submarines.
However, the new spearheads of the US missile force are a double-edged sword, as Break defense had speculated: From the army's point of view, the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) “the top model in a whole family of new Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF). Although the LRHW has the longest range, flies the fastest and is the most powerful, it is also the most expensive. “Hypersonic weapons will therefore be reserved for the highest priority targets, with shorter-range weapons combating the vast majority of threats,” the magazine said.
US-China conflict: Dark Eagle could potentially reach up to Mach 17
Its author, Sydney J. Freedberg, suggested that the Army and Navy's missiles were primarily intended for use in the Pacific. Should China invade Taiwan and the US allies refuse to fly over or use their territory, the US would still be able to act: “Long-range hypersonic weapons stationed on US soil in Guam could still hit the Chinese troops in Taipei “Besiege,” as Freedberg writes.
If the USA could fire its LRHW from batteries in Taiwan, Japan or South Korea, China would be open to the missiles at a distance of almost 2,000 kilometers. Additionally, the naval version of the LRHW, called Conventional Prompt Strike, could be fired from submarines or ships at sea anywhere in the Pacific, Freedberg said. All of this is also conceivable from 2025, as the current successful tests suggest.
However, there seems to be only speculation circulating about both the US Dark Eagle and the Russian Oreshnik – for example regarding the speed. The Oreshnik that fell over Ukraine is said to have reached eleven times the speed of sound. The US Army reported in a recently published Congressional Research Service report that its new development could travel well over 6,000 kilometers per hour, just under Mach 6, six times the speed of sound Newsweek.
“However, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, the Dark Eagle could potentially reach up to Mach 17, which is 21,044 kilometers per hour, or 17 times the speed of sound,” writes Newsweek-Author Hugh Cameron.
Putin's prophecy: “We are on the verge of making the use of nuclear weapons unnecessary”
The hypersonic weapons can rise to the edge of the earth's atmosphere, thus exceeding the range of the air and missile defense systems, and then fall on their target, so that the time to intervene may already have expired. As dangerous as these missiles become, they could mean a war based on conventional weapons and the most powerful threat to the respective parties in the future.
“What we need now is not an improvement in nuclear weapons, but in 'orezhnik,' because if we have enough of these modern weapons systems, we are on the verge of making the use of nuclear weapons virtually unnecessary,” Putin said recently, according to a Kremlin source. Protocol, how Newsweek reported. However, these weapons are putting Germany back in the focus of both blocs – Germany is once again becoming a base for American missiles, the tips of which are aimed at Russia, and is experiencing a new edition of the Cold War.
In the early to mid-1980s, as part of the NATO double decision, more than 100 Pershing II missiles were stationed, primarily in Baden-Württemberg – as a counterweight to the nuclear threat posed by the Soviet SS-20 medium-range missiles. The Dark Eagle missiles are also planned to be stationed in Germany – which has sparked massive discussions since the announcement.
Dark Eagle in Germany: “Serves flexibility and the way we can react”
Had in July The war zone published that the weapons to be deployed in 2026 would be a range of state-of-the-art systems, as Thomas Newdick had written, “including the SM-6 multi-purpose missile and the Tomahawk cruise missile, as well as hypersonic weapons in the development phase” – a reference to the not yet in The Dark Eagle was deployed – and possibly other weapons, such as the land-based hypersonic missile system Operational Fires (OpFires) and the short-range ballistic missile Precision Strike Missile (PrSM). Both are also currently in development.”
Ultimately, this serves flexibility and the way “we could react,” said Maik Keller recently. The Brigadier General is employed in the Politics Department of the Federal Ministry of Defense and is responsible for security policy in the Euro-Atlantic region. He spoke in the Bundeswehr podcast Inquiredto what extent this additional capability could potentially further irritate Russia and put it in a permanent state of alert. Keller denied that.
“I can in principle rule out this fear because these weapons can only be equipped conventionally.” Furthermore, extensive systems already exist; The capability we are developing now, which is land-based, increases flexibility. But that means the Russian threat situation does not change significantly.”
