Europe does not want to play it to a single letter in national defense depending on the United States. After the commercial war initiated by Donald Trump and the disputes for the percentage that each country allocates to NATO, France has chosen to design its own military technology.
The launch platform in Biscarrosse, to the south of the country in the region of Nueva Aquitaine, has played a fundamental role in the development of the most promising hypersonic missile that Europe has. France intends to join the world career of weapons that exceed the speed of light.
The hypersonic V-Max finally exposed
The neighboring country has worked for years in an ultrasecreto project: the V-Max, a hypersonic planner prototype. The first tests were held at the DGA missile test center in Biscarrosse on June 26, 2023.
The test was performed between total secrecy, only a small group of people knew the technical details of the missile, and not even the aerial radars in the area could detect it. The initial tests were a success.
The V-Max completed a flight to more than Mach 5, or what is the same, more than 6,000 km/h. This has been an unprecedented achievement for Europe and a demonstration that France has enormous potential to lead in the hypersonic race.
Only three world powers have designed hypersonic weapons so far: the United States, Russia and China. The inaugural flight is the result of years of collaboration between Ariane Group, Onera and the DGA.
Unpredictable trajectory, dodges radars and exceeds the speed of light
Hypersonic gliders such as V-Max do not follow a predictable ballistic trajectory such as other conventional weapons. These missiles travel in the upper atmosphere at speeds between Mach 5 and Mach 20, then plummeted towards the target reaching temperatures of more than 2,000 ° C.
The V-Max flight and the subsequent fall is one of the most violent maneuvers in aviation. The enormous speed and unpredictable movement makes them virtually undetectable for conventional antimile defenses, but the minimum error at more than 6,000 km/h can be fatal.
France has finally confirmed that the first V-Max tests have been a success. The structure of the ballistic missile resisted at speed and temperature, its controls also responded. After the good results, The country has begun to design a more advanced version with V-Max 2 under the Sylex program program.
The V-Max 2 not only exceeds the speed of light, it is capable of simulating real war conditions by performing evasion maneuvers against aerial radars. Ariane Group returns to lead the project given her experience with space pitchers and reentred to the atmosphere.
The goal? Cross France in three minutes with Mach 16, almost 20,000 km/h. The V-Max 2 has officially presented in the Aeronautical Hall of Paris of 2025, although The first flight tests will not reach 2027 and would be integrated into the Air Forces from 2030.
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Tags: Airplanes, United States