One of the less known ripple effects of North Korea’s latest round of saber rattling is it provides the US military with reasons to speed up development of a next-generation artillery shell that travels extreme distances at four-times the speed of sound.
Yes, they can target missiles.
The two-foot long shells, known as hypervelocity projectiles or HVPs, have been under operational tests since 2016 and as they travel in excess of 5,000 mph, hit targets with the impact of a freight train.
Because the next-generation shells are precision-guided and travel at such extreme speed, they can hit targets as far as 100 miles away in 72 seconds, markedly reducing options to evade.
What’s more, they can be fired off at 20 rounds per minute at targets, including moving ones, from modified artillery already in operation.
These include the US Navy’s 5-inch, ship-mounted guns as well as the US Army’s Paladin 155-mm howitzer, known as powder guns in military parlance. Standard artillery shells have a range of less than 20 miles.
That adds up to a lower cost for an anti-missile defense capability, said former US Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work during a 2015 speech at the US Army War College.
“Right now, we’re firing $14 million missiles to go after a $50,000 missile. It doesn’t make sense,” he said.
“We always think about THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Antimissile Defense) and PAC-3 missiles. All of the modeling right now is telling us that every single Army artillery piece using powder guns, using these advanced guided munitions (HVPs), will be able to knock down heavy missile raids,” Work said.
Read: What will North Korea do next?
In effect, this means every US Army 155 mm howitzer could be adapted to HVP use to counter cruise missile and tactical ballistic missile threats in any corner of the world, including North Korea.
Will Roper, the Pentagon’s Strategic Capabilities Office director, has said publicly in the past year that the HVP project is “a fantastic program” that will significantly lower the cost of missile defense.
BAE Systems has developed a HVP that is 26 inches long and weighs between 40 and 50 pounds, including a 15-pound payload. It is not the size, but the extremely high velocity that enables the HVP to deliver a devastating hit on its target.
At sea, BAE Systems expects to achieve a maximum rate of fire of 20 rounds per minute from a US Navy Mk 45 5-inch gun. It estimates 10 rounds per minute from the 155mm Advanced Gun System to be mounted on the 3 DDG 1000 warships, starting with the recently deployed USS Zumwalt.
That said, the US military is not alone as China and Russia as well as other countries such as India are pursuing HVP’s.
That said, the US military is not alone as China and Russia as well as other countries such as India are pursuing HVP’s.
However, Israel is believed to be at the head of the pack and there are unverified reports that the country has a working HVP capable of hitting a target at a speed in excess of Mach 10.
The US plans call for Army and Navy demonstrations by next year of HVP-based missile defenses. Traditional 5-inch naval guns and US Army howitzers will fire HVP rounds, perhaps guided by a specially modified variant of a US Air Force aircraft radar.
US Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. Roger Cabiness said in an email that the HVP team composed of the Strategic Capabilities Office and the Army, has made consistent progress in development.
“The first prototypes were fired in February 2016 at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Since then, the team has completed dozens of additional test shots,” said Cabiness.
He said the military services will determine the time of deployment of the HVP following conclusion of tests, in response to a question if the new shell may be in use on US Navy vessels as early as 2019.
Cabiness declined to comment on the status of China and Russia’s development of HVPs, though wouldn’t rule out the US sharing the technology with Japan and other allies in the Pacific.
“As the HVP team continues to mature and transition projectile technology, it will assess opportunities for mutually beneficial international participation in the program,” Cabiness said.
Still, the use of HVPs in powder guns is just a stepping stone in the ongoing development of so-called electromagnetic rail guns.
These devices, known as EMRGs, use an enormous jolt of electrical power to fire HVPs rather than gunpowder or chemical explosives.
The HVPs load via a sliding metal carriage suspended between two rails within a magnetic field.
The ability to create, store and then instantly generate the electrical energy to fire is key to achieving the EMRG’s objective of also launching shells at more than 5,000 mph without the need for explosive charges.
What a waste of world resources; human, financial, scientific and technological; to develop such sophisticated weapon systems which under the present system of ‘a nuclear umbrella’ would never be used or needed.
The recent Korean stand off has clearly shown that with emerging balance of power the threat of use of nuclear weapons as defensive pre-emption stalled the use of conventiontional warfare by the world’s mightiest power, and very likely was now leading it to the negotiation table after 65 years of the Ceasefire.
The stand off also demonstrated Chinese and Russian resolve to defend their increasing vital interests worldwide and thereby reducing other countries’ ability to militarily enforce its will on others.
How much better it would have been for the American people and of the world if USA was generous as under Presidents Eisonhower and Kennedy, had those resources instead been utilized for economic and social development.
Nonethless it was never too late to reconsider national priorities.
Iqbal F Quadir, Karachi, Pakistan.
All it needs is for the smart ass yanks to come within a few 100 miles off the coast of the country they intend to attack, and that ship will be sunl with a volley of a few midrange missiles.
It may cost the yanks $14m to make one of their missiles, but I am damn sure the Chinese can do one at maybe under 20%. At this cost , the Chinese can fire them off like lighting up fire crackers!
When did the eternally at war US need an excuse for wasting money on weapons? Blaming North Korea is a bit inane.
The Kim nuke is the biggest anti-symmetric weapon to counter the regime change rhetoric. The US will now have to invest 100 times the previous costs more to contain the puny Kim.
North Korea has opened the door to a new phase of arms race. Perhaps, someday, the race may render nuclear weapons to be less a detente weapon but dangerous to the owners themselves!
Ken Kwan made in China missiles? What a joke…you guys can’t even make a toy missiles right
Even the Chinese commies don’t be trust traitors like Wong, Chan , Ken
Really an arms race with Russia which, purportedly, is well ahead of the US in missile defense.
Since the US is behind already and would be unable, for example, reliably to shoot down an NK missile over Japan on its way to Guam, what happens when the Russians or Chinese also sport HPVs? Is this another instance of the US leading by example?
More to the point, the US homeland is unprotected. The US has relied to long on oceans to keep it safe, and wasted resources killing people around the world.
Would expecting a comeuppance be reasonable?
I THOUGHT HPV IS A SEXUALL DISEASE.
Gone are the time when USA was an International Policeman.If they are sensible people, their is much lesson for them in Viet Nam war.
So far they have not seen a war on their own land.Time is approaching fast, if they did not stop their hooliganism world wide, they will repent badly.
So far, all the replays I’ve read are funny. Nino Cardoso da Silva: where did you get your education from? Really? One thing is true about North Korea is that to make a dollar, they’ll do anything. To include selling the technology or actual hardware and nukes to anyone. Most concerning is selling it to any number of Islamic terrorist organizations whom would not hesitate to use them. Iran? With absolute, they will use them on Israel.
So maybe the narrow minds that have been posting should look at the big picture. North Korea? Who gives a shit. I could care less if they have them. What bothers me is whom they would sell them to.
And the others that have said that we (the U.S.) should build roads and schools around the world. Hey numb nuts, we’ve done that. But, why should we? Americans on average, work far more hours per week than any other developed country. Maybe those that want new roads and schools should work harder so they can contribute to the greater good.
And- to the world—-
You’re welcome for the freedom and security the U.S. has in some way provided you.
The trumpeter can thank Kim, Putin and Xi for achieving his re-armament goals.
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