US Army’s first Dark Eagle hypersonic battery to complete initial load by December.

Maj. Gen. Frank Lozano said the Army’s first hypersonic unit at Joint Base Lewis-McChord will receive the remaining Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon missiles by the end of December, completing Battery One’s initial load. The milestone follows two end-to-end successes in 2024 and signals a stabilized production ramp that sets up reloads and Battery Two in 2026.

The U.S. Army expects to finalize arming its first Dark Eagle battery by late December at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Program Executive Officer for Missiles and Space Maj. Gen. Frank Lozano said in an interview with Defense News. The effort centers on the Dark Eagle Long Range Hypersonic Weapon System (LRHW), Hypersonic Missile, with three missiles already delivered to the unit in 2025, a fourth completing acceptance checks at Lockheed Martin’s Cortland, Alabama site, and eight additional rounds slated to arrive before year’s end alongside a soldier-operated test.
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On July 9, 2025, the 3d Multi-Domain Task Force deployed the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon system to Australia’s Northern Territory to take part in Exercise Talisman Sabre 25. (Picture source: US DoD)

Lozano confirmed that three missiles were handed to the unit earlier in 2025 and that a fourth is completing acceptance checks at Lockheed Martin’s site in Cortland, Alabama. Eight more are to be delivered by the end of December, with a test shot planned in the same window, which will close out the initial arming of Battery One before moving to Battery Two and reloads. The pace remains that of a ramp-up, with inspectors addressing assembly defects as they arise, but the production line has stabilized enough for the Army to set firm milestones.

What the U.S. Army is fielding is a joint missile and a hypersonic glide vehicle shared with the U.S. Navy, configured for land employment. Dark Eagle Long Range Hypersonic Weapon System (LRHW) pairs a two-stage solid-propellant booster, derived from the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike line, with the Common-Hypersonic Glide Body produced by Dynetics (Leidos), then integrates the stack on Army launchers via Lockheed Martin. The publicly stated reach is around 2,775 km, enough to hold key nodes deep in an adversary’s theater at risk from dispersed sites. The unpowered glide vehicle is released at high altitude and flies at speeds above Mach 5 on a depressed, maneuvering path, complicating interception. The system is intended to engage critical and mobile targets and to help penetrate A2/AD architectures alongside naval CPS capabilities, with the U.S. Navy planning to use the same payload in its IRCPS program.

On the ground, a Dark Eagle battery is organized around four semi-trailer transporter-erector-launchers, each carrying two sealed canisters with all-up rounds. The TEL rides on an M870A4-type trailer, generally towed by a heavy Oshkosh tractor, while a Battery Operations Center provides command and fire control via AFATDS. This configuration drives three decisive parameters for land forces: road mobility for dispersion, shoot-and-scoot for immediate post-launch survivability, and reload sustainability as industrial production increases. At battery level, this amounts to eight ready rounds before reload, a format consistent with operations requiring frequent movement and a reduced signature.

The road-mobile launcher is designed for discreet and rapid deployment: set-up in minutes, hydraulic erection, hardened fire-control and communications within the BOC, and secure links for target designation and integration into a joint strike network. Each TEL has two launch tubes enabling successive shots before displacement. Reload and maintenance vehicles, together with the BOC, form an autonomous module able to operate from austere sites, complicating adversary intelligence collection and favoring dispersion across multiple locations.

On the missile side, the two-stage solid-propellant stack accelerates the system before separation and glide of the C-HGB. Guidance relies on an inertial navigation unit, likely assisted by satellite updates during the boost and glide phases, with hardening against jamming and deception. Precision details remain classified, but the boost-glide profile, maneuverability, and a conventional warhead optimized for kinetic and explosive effects provide high terminal effects against fixed or mobile targets. The employment concept favors a single glide body per shot, prioritizing penetration and accuracy over saturation.

The joint Army–Navy architecture relies on a shared glide-body diameter that facilitates industrial commonality and the scale-up of a production base that did not previously exist in the United States. In addition, the booster–glider separation and the maneuvering, unpowered flight of the C-HGB increase trajectory unpredictability and the difficulty of interception. Finally, sealed canisters contribute to safety in storage and transport while protecting the munition from environmental exposure.

Dark Eagle primarily provides options and tempo. A mobile hypersonic battery complicates adversary targeting, especially when integrated into a joint sensors-to-shooters chain in which long-range sensors feed AFATDS and accelerate firing authorizations. The unit can reposition on road networks, erect the launcher, fire two rounds, displace immediately, and remain survivable against counter-battery and air strikes. The mission set is narrow but structuring. Likely targets include air defense nodes, command centers, hardened launch complexes, and logistics chokepoints that support an adversary’s strike chain. Protection rests on mobility, dispersion, signature reduction, and passive canister protection, complemented by allied air-defense umbrellas and electronic warfare measures.

The current delivery follows a rough test path in 2023 and two end-to-end successes in 2024, including one in Hawaii, which opened the way to initial equipping, while program teams and industry continued to refine build quality and assembly sequences. Several converging signals during summer 2025 indicated a late-year equipping window, a perspective now aligned with the official schedule and public Army statements.

A fully equipped battery at JBLM does not change the balance by volume alone, but the signal is clear. The United States enters the land-based hypersonic era with a system designed to complement naval deployments, to challenge the assumption of sanctuary for distant command nodes, and to give Indo-Pacific and European commands an additional lever within coalition plans. China and Russia have tested and, in part, fielded their own systems. U.S. entry into service narrows the window of unilateral advantage and complicates adversary air and missile defenses. For allies, the presence of Dark Eagle adds to Tomahawk, PrSM, and maritime CPS, reinforces extended deterrence, and accelerates counter-hypersonic investment across the partner network.