The US Army has revived a giant cannon once intended for long-range strikes, this time to accelerate the development of hypersonic weapons.
During a recent live-fire demonstration, the service launched a hypersonic warhead from what appears to be the Heavy Artillery Test System (HATS), a test platform derived from the canceled Strategic Long Range Cannon program.
According to the army, the test capped a two-year effort to develop a faster and cheaper way of evaluating hypersonic technologies.
Rather than relying on expensive missile launches, HATS uses a cannon to propel an Integrated Launch Package to high speeds, allowing researchers to collect critical flight and impact data at a fraction of the cost.
The approach enables engineers to study how hypersonic payloads perform under controlled conditions while shortening test schedules and reducing development expenses.
The use of a gun to launch the warhead to high speeds before it makes impact allows the army to closely study its effectiveness under controlled conditions, bringing overall costs down compared to using more expensive missile test models.
Officials reviewed high-speed footage from the demonstration and validated the warhead’s flight and impact during the test at Yuma Proving Ground.
The US Army said the launch method has already attracted interest from other hypersonic development programs looking to incorporate cannon-assisted testing into their own research, potentially accelerating future weapons development.
Engineering the Shot
Before the live-fire demonstration, specialists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center integrated the warhead into a protective launch package.
The team also equipped it with an electronic safe-and-arm fuze designed to prevent accidental detonation during testing.
Before the warhead was manufactured, the army conducted extensive peer reviews to validate the safety of the cannon-launch concept.
According to the service, the successful demonstration establishes an alternative path for evaluating hypersonic weapons, potentially reducing the time and cost required to mature future systems.
