America's newest hypersonic missile system Dark Eagle (also known as LRHW Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon), which not without problems but finally began entering service (in October the first battery received a full set of missiles), turns out to be very controversial in terms of weapon effectiveness.
Specifically, American military announced the weight of explosives contained in this missile's warhead. And it amounts to about 30 pounds 13.61 kg. Such a figure was voiced during a public event for U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth during his visit to Redstone Arsenal in Alabama.
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In the published video (at 20:21), it's clearly heard that Dark Eagle's warhead itself contains only 30 pounds of explosives. But it's assured that this is sufficient for warhead effectiveness, and the explosive itself is needed, apparently, only to disperse preformed fragments, whose dispersal allows hitting targets in an area the size of a park where the presentation is taking place.
How small the explosive quantity of 13.61 kg (30 pounds) is for such a product as a hypersonic missile can be shown with two examples. The first is the explosive quantity in a 155mm M107 artillery shell 6.86 kg (15.1 pounds), meaning Dark Eagle's warhead has explosive quantity like two 155mm artillery shells.
Of course, in this case, based on the description, we're talking about a fragmentation warhead. And that's why it's better to find an equivalent of such a warhead. For example, M30A1 GMLRS for HIMARS, which is stuffed with 180 thousand tungsten carbide balls. The total weight of this warhead is 88.45 kg (195 pounds, without fuze), of which 23 kg (51 pounds) is PBX-109 explosive, which is responsible for dispersing preformed fragments.
And if the proportions of Dark Eagle and GMLRS fragmentation warheads are similar, then the total combat weight of this missile's warhead could be about 52 kg (115 pounds). And this is the actual equivalent of a regular Shahed's warhead weight, which russians are actively trying to enhance, having already reached installing double warheads.
Thus, Dark Eagle from Lockheed Martin, which is a two-stage missile with hypersonic glider that flies 3,100-3,700 km (according to various sources), can deliver to target a warhead that is approximately tangent to the weight of a deep-strike drone's warhead.
Of course, it’s possible to discuss the glider's ability due to its speed to penetrate obstacles, strike highly protected objects. But the U.S. Secretary of Defense wasn't told about this, although its no less important than hitting targets in open areas. After all, small warhead weight is not an obstacle in case of equipping Dark Eagle with a nuclear warhead. But this is already about a completely different global nuclear war.
Also announced were Dark Eagle missile production rates from Lockheed Martin. Currently they are 12 units per year with a plan to expand this production to 24 units per year. At the same time, its price according to available information is $41 million per missile.
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