The planned test launch of the new hypersonic missile system was canceled on Wednesday (September 6th). Earlier in the week there were navigation alerts regarding the closure of Atlantic Ocean airspace east of the Cape Canaveral space force station in Florida; accordingly, the test launch will take place from September 6-8.

The Department of Defense issued a statement to Florida Today on Wednesday, September 6, confirming that the scheduled test has actually been cancelled. The reason for the cancellation was not specified. “On September 6, the Ministry planned to conduct a flight test at the Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, to inform the development of our hypersonic technology. The Pentagon representative stated that the test was not carried out as a result of the pre-flight checks. aforementioned Florida today.

Despite the cancellation, a spokesperson for the Department of Defense told Florida Today that the test is still useful in providing data to move the program forward. “The Ministry has been able to successfully gather data on the performance of ground-based hardware and software that will inform the continued progress in the development of offensive hypersonic weapons. The supply of hypersonic weapons remains the Ministry’s top priority.”

As Ars Technica reports, the launch was likely a test of the US Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), a land-based missile system. A similar test was planned and canceled in March 2023; According to The War Zone, this cancellation is due to a battery issue. A US military statement issued later that month confirmed the deployment of a new hypersonic weapon system at Cape Canaveral.

On Wednesday, September 6, photographers at Florida’s Space Coast snapped pictures of something resembling the LRHW launcher located at Space Launch Complex 46 on Cape Canaveral’s east side, but it’s hard to be sure what the hardware is.

The US Army’s LRHW consists of a solid rocket booster and a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV). The rocket booster was designed to bring the system to optimum altitude and speed before deploying the truck for autonomous flight.

As the name suggests, this class of hypersonic vehicles can glide towards its target at speeds of at least Mach 5, while maintaining high maneuverability. Some trucks have the ability to make sharp maneuvers in flight, zigzagging toward their targets, making them harder to track and stop.

The US Navy is developing its own naval version of the system, known as the Conventional Rapid Attack. INSIDE expression In 2020, the Pentagon’s Office of Public Affairs said the new missiles “can hit targets hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away in minutes to hit a wide variety of high-value targets.”

The statement said the development and implementation of this class of weapons is one of the Pentagon’s “highest technical research and engineering priorities.”