The Dark Eagle Long Range Hypersonic Missile (LRHM), a key element in the US Army’s Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF) capability saw its first exercise fielding during Resolve Hunter held at the end of June at Joint Base Lewis-McCord in Washington State.
Developed by Lockheed-Martin, LRHM is according to the Army project description, intended to target counter anti-access/area denial high-priority, time-critical targets deep in the battlespace.
The initial system was delivered to the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF) 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment. During the three-day exercise Bravo Battery participated with Dark Eagle for the first time in a joint-training exercise.
Resolute Hunter 24-2 is dedicated to exercising battle management, command and control, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance with three countries participating.
Col. Charles Kean, commander of 1st MDTF, shared that the battery demonstrated its ability to integrate with higher echelons while exercising its ability to digitally integrate with surveillance and targeting assets in a joint command and control network.
The Dark Eagle LRHM comprises a ground-launched missile equipped with a common hypersonic glide body(C-HGB). The C-HGB, built by Dynetics, employs a booster rocket to achieve its cruise speed vehicle its aerodynamic design allows for exceptional manoeuvrability.
The missile is enclosed in an All-Up Round plus canister (AUR+C) with two carried on each M870A4 semi-trailer mounted transporter-erector-launcher (TEL). The TEL trailer is pulled by the Army HMETT truck prime mover. Each battery has four TELs plus a battery operation centre and support vehicle.
The missiles themselves have a reported range of 2,776 km (1,725 miles) and a speed exceeding 6115 kmph (3,800 mile per hour) or Mach 5.
Dark Eagle will certainly focus on high-value targets with command-and-control and critical assets a priority.
The US Army currently plans to form five MDTFs with the 2nd establish in Europe in 2021.
An additional two MDTFs are to be established in the Indo-Pacific theatre while one will be stationed at Fort Liberty on the US east coast in North Carolina.
The LGHM demonstrated it’s deploy ability in 2023 when a system was airlifted from Lewis-McCord to Cape Canaveral, Florida.
This confirmed the adaptability and operational flexibility of the system to respond to crisis as needed.
by Stephen W. Miller
