The United States continues to strengthen its defense capabilities against the growing threat of hypersonic missiles developed by Russia and China. In this context, the Department of Defense has advanced the development of the Hypervelocity Ground Weapons System (HGWS), a high-speed artillery system designed to intercept drones, cruise missiles, and hypersonic missiles at a lower operational cost. The current program, driven by the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO), aims to integrate existing technologies with hypervelocity projectiles, enabling a more versatile and relatively low-cost comprehensive defense system.
The significant push for this program comes in response to the increasing sophistication of Russia’s and China’s arsenals, leading U.S. military forces to explore low-cost, rapidly producible, and quickly deployable defense solutions. In this regard, the war in Ukraine has demonstrated that conventional air defense systems, such as Patriot or SM-6 missiles, can be highly expensive and difficult to replenish when faced with emerging threats, including drone swarms and hypersonic missiles that have already been tested in combat. To address this scenario, the U.S. HGWS system leverages existing radar and artillery infrastructure, integrating hypervelocity projectiles capable of intercepting targets with precision at significantly reduced costs. In this sense, the U.S. appears to have developed a cost-effective yet highly technologically advanced defense approach against systems that, like hypersonic missiles, entail enormous manufacturing costs.
The U.S. Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) recently awarded a direct contract to BAE Systems for the development of the Multi-Domain Artillery Cannon (MDAC), an artillery system optimized to operate with hypervelocity projectiles (HVP). This new platform, integrated within the HGWS, is specifically designed to counter drones, cruise missiles, and conventional aircraft in a multi-domain combat environment, ensuring the protection of key positions at a lower interception cost.
According to released information, a full MDAC battery will be equipped with eight cannons, four high-precision multi-role MFPR radars, two multi-domain MDBM radars, and at least 144 HVP rounds. Its modular design and integration with advanced radars will allow for efficient target neutralization without relying on expensive interceptors such as PAC-2, PAC-3, or SM-6. This capability positions it as a viable alternative to reinforce the air defense of bases, strategic installations, and troop concentrations.
The concept of HVP ammunition originated in the U.S. Navy’s railgun program, developed to strike aerial, ground, and naval targets with high precision and speed. Although the electromagnetic cannon program did not achieve solid operational implementation, hypervelocity projectile technology has been successfully adapted to conventional artillery, leading to the configuration of the current HGWS system. This provides a low-cost solution to counter what China and Russia consider a strategic advantage with their hypersonic missiles.
Then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks emphasized that the HGWS is part of a broader effort to develop affordable, rapidly producible, and highly adaptable defense systems. Similarly, then-Under Secretary for Research and Engineering Heidi Shyu highlighted the importance of advancing technologies capable of countering hypersonic missile threats without incurring the high costs of traditional systems.
China and Russia have positioned hypersonic missile development as a key component of their military strategy, aiming to challenge conventional air defense systems. These missiles, capable of maneuvering at extreme speeds and evading traditional interceptors, have recently forced the United States to rethink its missile defense approach. With the development of HGWS and MDAC, the Pentagon aims to consolidate a high-tech, flexible, and cost-effective solution, seeking to demonstrate that the deployment of hypersonic missiles by other actors can be countered economically.
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