Hypervelocity: once a pioneer, France is back in the race

On 26 June, France carried out the first test of its V-MaX hypersonic glider. It has thus officially joined a race with other permanent members of the UN Security Council to develop weapons that will make anti-missile defences obsolete.

On Monday 26 June, at around 10pm, residents of south-west France spotted strange plumes of smoke in the sky with a disordered trajectory, leading the most imaginative to believe that it was a UFO passing by. However, the object was clearly identified: it was a demonstrator of the future. French hypersonic glider V-MaX (for "experimental manoeuvring vehicle"). Carried on a sounding rocket fired from the Direction Générale de l'Armement (DGA) test centre in Biscarosse (Landes), it "contained numerous on-board technological innovations", and is said to have flown at around Mach 5 (over 6,100 km/h).

This programme was announced in January 2019 by the then Minister for the Armed Forces, Florence Parly: "Many nations are equipping themselves with it, we have all the skills to carry it out: we can't wait any longer." By "many nations", she meant above all the United States, China and Russia, which are already well advanced in the field of hypervelocity.

CURRENT MISSILE DEFENCES RENDERED INOPERABLE

This term refers to manoeuvring craft travelling at hypersonic speeds, the highest of the supersonic speeds (above the speed of sound: 343 m/s or 1,225 km/h, or Mach 1): by convention, speeds above Mach 5 are hypersonic. The great advantage of this speed is that it allows the use of atmospheric bounce in the upper atmosphere, a use of the craft's aerodynamic lift that makes its trajectory unpredictable. Missile defences, designed to counter a weapon following a ballistic trajectory, can therefore no longer operate. This is why the major powers are developing hypersonic aircraft. "It's an obvious step when you look at the evolution in the performance of ground-to-air defence systems", commented the Délégué général à l'armement, Emmanuel Chiva, at the Paris Air Show. his hearing by the Defence and Armed Forces Committee of the French National Assembly, on 1 January 2008.er February. "We also note that Russia is using hypersonic missiles to strike strategic centres in Ukraine.

The French Ministry of Defence, via the DGA, has entrusted ArianeGroup and the Office national d'études et de recherches aérospatiales (ONERA) with the development of the V-MaX. "These hypersonic gliders are capable of penetrating the most sophisticated air defences. detailed Florence Parly in 2021. "These are missiles that will be able to reach unprecedented speeds of 6,000 to 7,000 kilometres per hour, in other words, cover the distance between Dunkirk and Nice in 12 minutes. Now, when you only have a few dozen minutes to make an informed decision on which the lives of thousands of people depend, it's fair to say that even the greatest human intelligence faces some difficulties.

The development of these aircraft therefore goes hand in hand with significant resources allocated to artificial intelligence. For France, it's a bit of a return to basics, since the country has been at the forefront of this field since the 1960s, far ahead in this field. Launched in 1965, the VERAS (Véhicule expérimental de recherches aérothermodynamiques et structurales) hypersonic glider programme even saw a prototype presented at the Paris Air Show in 1969... before being abandoned in 1971, for budgetary reasons linked in particular to the cost of materials. The same applied to the Minerve ballistic missile project.

UNITED STATES, CHINA AND RUSSIA HAVE MORE ADVANCED LEVELS

These two old projects have not been lost on everyone, since their concepts have inspired the United States, China and Russia in their research into hypervelocity, which is now at a more advanced stage than that of France. The hypersonic weapons developed by these countries include :

  • On the US side, the AGM-183 ARR hypersonic cruise missile, successfully tested in May 2022, is capable of reaching speeds of Mach 20. Launched by a bomber in flight, then self-propelled, it eventually glides towards its target.
  • In Russia, the Avangard hypersonic glider, capable of carrying conventional or nuclear payloads up to Mach 24 after launch by a ballistic missile, has been officially in service since December 2019.
  • In China, the DF-ZF (or DF-17) hypersonic glider will fly at Mach 10 and will be operational from 2019, also with the capacity to carry conventional or nuclear warheads.

For its part, France has already announced in MayArianeGroup's military advisor, Admiral (2S) Charles-Henri du Ché, has announced the launch of the V-MaX-2, a "more powerful" demonstrator that will go "further in experimentation" and should fly in 2024 or 2025. The future missile for the airborne component of France's nuclear deterrent, known as ASN4G, will also fall into the hypervelocity category. It should be operational by 2035.