Hypersonic Cruise Missile (HCM)
There are reports that a supersonic anti-ship missile is being developed based on Scramjet technology, but as it is a strategic weapon system that does not disclose information to the outside, it is difficult to ascertain its reality. Defense Science Research Institute (ADD) will finally complete the core technology development in 2024 based on these core technology developments. It is estimated that it will start developing long-range hypersonic cruise missiles with a maximum cruise speed of Mach 6 or higher.
It was reported in October 2021 that the South Korean military is developing a hypersonic missile with the goal of deploying it in the 2030s. According to the state audit data received from the Defense Science Research Institute (ADD) by Representative Kang Dae-shik, a member of the National Assembly's National Defense Committee, on the 19th, ADD selected 30 technical tasks related to the development of hypersonic weapons. It is being developed sequentially with others. Among them, six tasks, including 'development of materials for hypersonic vehicles', were successfully completed by December 2020, and 11 tasks, including 'high-speed aircraft design technology', are currently under development with the goal of completion in 2024. ADD plans to start sequentially after 2022 for the remaining 13 tasks, including 'promotional development'.
Hypersonic missiles are state-of-the-art technology possessed by only four countries in the world: the United States, Russia, China and North Korea. North Korea announced on 29 September 2021 that it had developed a hypersonic missile and test-fired it for the first time. The North Korean Academy of Defense Science previously released some photos of the Hwasong Type 8 hypersonic missile that was launched from Doyang-ri, Ryongrim-gun, Jagang Province on the morning of the 28th and mentioned the applied technology together. The most important of these are the hypersonic missile's glide body and ampoule [stored] fuel.
A South Korean supersonic cruise missile was launched on 15 September 2021 at the Defense Science Research Institute (ADD) Comprehensive Testing Center in Anheung, Chungcheongnam-do. The missile with a small and agile appearance rose from a launch pad installed on one side of the test site adjacent to the sea. The missile, which ignited the engine immediately after being ejected from the launch pad, ascended at a high speed and disappeared into the clouds. After that, he approached the barge in the middle of the sea and sharply ripped the net installed on the ship. It was the moment when the domestic supersonic cruise missile, which had only been heard of rumors, appeared for the first time.
The domestic supersonic cruise missile, unveiled through test launch, had an air intake installed in the front of the missile. It was completely different from the Haeseong anti-ship missile with an air intake on the side of the missile's fuselage or the Army's Hyunmoo-3C cruise missile where the air intake is not easily visible. Overall, it is very similar to the Russian-made P-800 Yahont supersonic cruise missile.
It is known that the related technology was brought into Korea through the Brown Bear Project, which was a Russian arms import project after the Cold War, and became the technological foundation of the Korean supersonic cruise missile. The P-800, called Onyx in Russia, is a supersonic anti-ship cruise missile with a range of 300 to 800 km. The P-270 Mosquito supersonic cruise missile, which appeared in the 1990s, did not have the ability to skim when evading interceptors and had a short range. It was simply a method of approaching and striking the enemy ship at high speed.
The P-800, on the other hand, is a supersonic cruise missile with an increased range, reduced weight, and sea-skimming capabilities. It is also more powerful than the US Harpoon anti-ship missile. When a cruise missile flies at a speed that is several times the speed of sound, its kinetic energy increases as well. Even without a large and heavy warhead, it incapacitates enemy ships with powerful kinetic energy. In particular, it can inflict fatal damage on large ships such as aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships. Unlike Haesung, which uses a turbofan engine, the P-800 is equipped with a solid rocket booster and a ramjet engine.
Although the P-800-related technology was introduced, a high level of miniaturization and weight reduction was required to be mounted on various platforms. It was also necessary to localize core technologies, including a ramjet engine, a high-performance propellant, and a technology to protect the missile system from the high heat generated around the missile warhead during high-speed flight. Data link inductors, thermal imaging equipment, and radars had to be added as well. To this end, the government put a lot of effort into securing core technologies, such as establishing a research center specializing in high-speed aircraft.
From the perspective of South Korea, which only had subsonic cruise missiles that did not reach the speed of sound, it is evaluated that supersonic cruise missiles provide a significant advantage in the battle for supremacy in Northeast Asia. However, given that neighboring countries are poised to deploy hypersonic missiles that boast a speed of more than five times the speed of sound, some point out that it is a step too late.
Hypersonic missiles are divided into hypersonic cruise missiles (HCMs) and hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs) according to the method for reaching hypersonic speeds. The hypersonic cruise missile changes its propulsion system to a supersonic combustion ramjet engine, also known as a scramjet. It is estimated that Since the technical difficulty of developing scramjets is high, the development of hypersonic gliders tends to be completed first.
Scramjet is an abbreviation of Supersonic Combustion RAMJET. Unlike conventional rocket propulsion engines, hypersonic air intake propulsion engines such as scramjet engines do not have a separate oxidizing agent. It can load a larger amount of payload, and its specific impulse is several to tens of times that of a rocket. A conventional ramjet propulsion engine or a scramjet propulsion engine requires a large solid fuel booster to achieve ignition speed.
The scramjet engine is a special engine that makes supersonic airplanes flying at current speeds of Mach 3 or 4 faster. Using this engine, it can theoretically reach speeds of up to 29,000 km/h, which is 24 times the speed of sound. The ramjet engine is an engine with a maximum speed of Mach 15 and is slower than the scramjet engine, but it is a technology that has a greater potential for commercialization compared to the scramjet engine.
Scramjet engines have supersonic speed inside the combustion chamber, so using fuel with a large molecular weight is very troublesome. The installation of a flame retarder is essential. Deep combustion requires that supersonic flow be mixed with the injected fuel in microsecond time. It is necessary to delay the fuel flow so that a higher percentage of the fuel is burned, which is achieved by the installation of a cavity behind the injector. The cavity, which acts as a flame retarder for the scramjet, is responsible for the recirculation of the flow. which reduces the ignition delay time and enables successful ignition within a short distance.
The scramjet engine is currently attracting attention as a key component of the next-generation propulsion engine, and active research is being conducted around the world, including the United States, France, Japan, China, and India. Hypersonic weapons, which combine high-speed ball and variable trajectory characteristics, are difficult to block with the existing anti-aircraft and missile defense systems in that they are fast and have a different flight trajectory from existing missiles. In addition, since the speed is fast, the destructive power is considerable only with pure kinetic energy.
In 2004, Defense Science Research Institute (ADD) promoted design technology development for combustors and major core parts of liquid ramjet propulsion engines. In 2007, design technology such as combustor, fuel injection device, fuel supply device, ignition device, and nozzleless booster. It succeeded in securing combustion test and evaluation technology.
Korea Aerospace Research Institute started on design and development of a hypersonic air-breathing engine test facility from 2000 and completed the test facility installation in July 2009. This facility, designated as Scramjet engine test facility(SeTF), is a blow-down type high enthalpy wind tunnel which has a pressurized air supply system, air heater system, free-jet test chamber, fuel supply system, facility control/measurement system and exhaust system. At the Korea Aerospace Research Institute's Aviation Innovation Technology Research Center, 30m-long exhaust pipes as thick as a human's height welcome visitors. This exhaust pipe is a super-large hot fan that heats compressed air to a temperature of over 1,000 degrees and blows it out at a speed of Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound). It is an experimental facility for the development of a 'scramjet' engine for next-generation hypersonic aircraft.
In November 2008, a Mach 6.7 class hypersonic intake and supersonic combustor exclusively designed and manufactured by KARI. The test was successful using the hypersonic propulsion engine test facility of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). At this time, KARI's supersonic combustor is better than the existing supersonic combustor, which is universally used worldwide. It is known that the performance was improved by up to 17% under the same conditions.
In June 2009, the independent scramjet engine test facility, which has been researched since 2000, was completed. Since then, until 2013, one scramjet engine intake test, two hydrocarbon scramjet engine combustion tests, One type of insulation aerodynamic heating test was successfully performed.
After the ground test of the model scramjet engine S1 in 2007, the Aerospace Research Institute conducted a ground test of the improved S2 model in April 2009. The engine test model was manufactured under the condition of the design Mach number of 6.7, and the ground test was performed under the condition of the off-design condition of Mach 7.7. In the test results, in this test model, flow separation occurred due to the superposition of shock waves inside the intake cowl, and pressure vibrations inside the engine were observed. However, it was found that supersonic combustion occurred stably inside the combustor, and the isolation part of the engine prevented the pressure fluctuations in the engine from propagating to the intake port, thereby preventing the engine from starting. In addition, the S2 model showed excellent thrust and specific thrust performance in performance comparison with other test models.
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