Operational Fires (abbreviated as OpFires) is a

hypersonic In aerodynamics, a hypersonic speed is one that exceeds five times the speed of sound, often stated as starting at speeds of Mach 5 and above. The precise Mach number at which a craft can be said to be flying at hypersonic speed varies, since i ...

ground-launched system developed by

DARPA The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adva ...

for the

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

. The system deploys a boost glide vehicle. The prime contractor for the program is

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...

. The missile's range is thought to be up to 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers). OpFires intends to produce a medium-range hypersonic missile that is cheaper and with less range than the

Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon The Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), also known as Dark Eagle is a intermediate-range ballistic missile, intermediate-range surface-to-surface missile, surface-to-surface boost-glide hypersonic weapon being developed for use by the United St ...

(LRHW) to strike larger numbers of targets at operational ranges. It will reuse the glide body from the

AGM-183 ARRW The AGM-183 ARRW ("Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon") is a hypersonic air-to-ground ballistic missile planned for use by the United States Air Force. Developed by Lockheed Martin, the boost-glide vehicle is propelled to a maximum speed of mor ...

. 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.

History

The system was successfully tested in July 2022 from a

Palletized Load System The Palletized Load System (PLS) is a truck-based logistics system that entered service in the United States Army in 1993. It performs long and short distance freight transport, unit resupply, and other missions in the tactical environment to s ...

-based launcher vehicle at

White Sands Missile Range White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico. The range was originally established in 1941 as the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, where the Trinity t ...

. The system achieved all test objectives, including first ever use of a U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) logistics truck as a medium-range missile launcher, missile canister egress, stable flight capture, and use of U.S. Army inventory artillery fire control systems to initiate the test mission.

built the system, which includes a

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...

rocket motor, and conducted the test.

References

{{US missiles Military research of the United States Medium-range ballistic missiles of the United States DARPA projects Lockheed Martin

History

See also

References