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reACTIONary

(7,266 posts)
8. That does look pretty mobile....
Sun May 3, 2026, 10:24 PM
9 hrs ago

What I think is that they have a hypersonic vehicle that is part of a modular, configurable system. I think they are bragging about the high-performance configuration's full capability, and at the same time bragging about the mobility of a lower-performance configuration without being candid about the lower performance.

If you scroll down in the article a bit further and you will see this....



That's a two stage booster for the long range glide body. That isn't going to fit into those mobile missile tubes. From the article, it appears that it would fit into the launch tube of an Ohio class ballistic missile submarine, and a submarine IS mobile, but I don't think that is what is meant by a mobile missile launcher.

Here is an article more relevant to my experience:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypersonic_Technology_Vehicle_2

This vehicle is launched using a Minotaur IV Lite, which has three stages. This is the actual booster on the pad at Vandenberg with the HTV-2 vehicle as payload:



To gain "mobility" for that, you load it into something like a C-17 Globemaster, then push it out the back at altitude. It falls for a while with a pilot chute to keep it upright, and then - when the plane clears the area - blast off!

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