Hypersonic Air Launched Offensive Anti-Surface
The Hypersonic Air Launched Offensive Anti-Surface (HALO) is a hypersonic air-launched anti-ship missile being developed for the United States Navy. It is designed to provide greater anti-surface warfare capability than the AGM-158C LRASM and is expected to be compatible with F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. The initial operational capability is expected in 2028. The program is also called the Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare Increment 2 (OASuW Inc 2) program.
| Hypersonic Air Launched Offensive Anti-Surface (HALO) | |
|---|---|
| Type | Hypersonic air-launched anti-ship missile |
| Place of origin | United States |
| Service history | |
| In service | In development |
| Used by | United States Navy |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Raytheon Missiles & Defense Lockheed Martin |
| Specifications | |
Launch platform | F/A-18E/F Super Hornet |
On 28 March 2023, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) awarded a $116 million contract to Raytheon Missiles & Defense and Lockheed Martin for technical maturation and development through a preliminary design review of the propulsion system. The contract is slated to begin in December 2024, with each company's initial design review working towards a prototype flight test.
However, at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space conference's April 2023, Rear Admiral Stephen Tedford, Program Executive Officer for unmanned aviation and strike weapons at NAVAIR, said that HALO might be "a little bit of a misnomer" because it might not reach hypersonic speeds. Tedford said that HALO may reach only supersonic speeds, rather than hypersonic speeds (i.e., the Mach 5 threshold).