By October, the USA is expected to finally receive its first long-range hypersonic missile, the Dark Eagle.

The first unit of the U.S. Army is expected to receive the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) by October 2025, which is also referred to as CPS (Conventional Prompt Strike) for the Navy, and informally, as Dark Eagle.

This delivery comes after a two-year delay, as it was originally scheduled for before the fall of 2023. However, the Multi-Domain Task Force (a new type of unit where hypersonic strikes are combined with hacking attacks) is currently only utilizing the Typhon with SM-6 and Tomahawk missiles. This information was reported by Defense News, which learned about the timeline for the U.S. military's acquisition of the first Dark Eagle from an unnamed Pentagon official.

From the perspective of Defense Express, it's worth noting that the fate of this hypersonic system has been quite controversial, and as of the beginning of the year, the Pentagon was uncertain whether they needed this hypersonic missile system. For one, the development of the system has stagnated over the past two years due to issues not with the missile or the hypersonic glide body itself, but with the launcher.

Secondly, the cost of the Dark Eagle missile is quite staggering—$41 million per unit. For that price, the LRHW can strike targets up to 3100 km away using the common hypersonic glide body (C-HGB). This means that even if it is resistant to missile defense systems, primarily the Chinese ones, the category of targets that would benefit from this system is fairly narrow.

At the same time, the Navy might be more interested in the Dark Eagle, as high weapon costs are not unusual for them. It should be noted that the naval variant is expected to be integrated into the armament of Zumwalt-class destroyers and Virginia-class submarines.

Moreover, from the launcher perspective, there should not be any problems, as universal launch silos are evidently being used. However, it's important to add that the Zumwalt employs the new type Mk 57 GMVLS launchers, which are capable of launching missiles with solid-fuel boosters that are 45% more powerful.