The US Army’s new hypersonic missile, Dark Eagle, could emerge from the shadows should the fragile ceasefire with Iran break down.
Dark Eagle, as the Army’s long-delayed Long Range Hypersonic Missile is known, has been a priority system for the Army to defeat all existing air defenses. Its potential deployment to the Middle East was floated amid stalled negotiations between the US and Iran, the ongoing blockade and closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and the US’ continued military presence in the region should fighting continue.
The movement of Dark Eagle was reported by Bloomberg, which cited the requested deployment of the missile by US Central Command to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Business Insider wasn’t able to independently verify the report. CENTCOM told Business Insider it had no further comment.
Dark Eagle could give US forces a weapon to hit Iranian targets at long distances beyond weapons like the Army’s Precision Strike Missile, but it doesn’t add new capabilities to the current war, given that the US and Israel have crippled Iran’s air defenses — the kind of systems Dark Eagle was built to evade.
Sgt. Perla Alfaro/US Army
What is the Dark Eagle hypersonic missile?
The Dark Eagle is a hypersonic boost-glide vehicle weapon that can travel at speeds exceeding Mach 5 and with a reported range of nearly 1,725 miles. That’s roughly the distance between New York City and Denver, Colorado. Its development and testing were delayed over several years due to launcher problems before successful end-to-end flight tests, the most recent of which occurred in December 2024.
Dark Eagle is deployed via a truck that sets up a transport-erector launcher carrying the missile. What makes its yet-to-be-seen capabilities potentially a generation beyond ballistic missiles is its ability to maneuver towards its target. Existing air defenses rely on the prediction of a projectile’s path, but the Dark Eagle, if it works, can scramble that by using control surfaces like fins to change its movement, similar to a jet maneuvering to avoid incoming missiles at many times the speed.
The Pentagon has said Dark Eagle is a critical capability for engaging enemy high-value and time-sensitive targets, and this maneuverability would make it difficult to intercept in flight. The US, China, and Russia are in a race to develop their own hypersonic missiles. US and Russian developments were delayed by the now-shuttered Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which prohibited the use and development of ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of between 500 kilometers to 5,500 kilometers.
The advanced missile was plagued by years of delays and setbacks during its testing, before finally being fielded, though exactly when the weapon became operational is unclear.
Since its inception in early March, the US war in Iran has become a proving ground for other rarely-used weapons, such as the Precision Strike Missile, the deployment of which US Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper called “a historic first” and “an unrivaled, deep-strike capability.” The short-range PrSM ballistic missile has been in use by the US military for just over two years.
CENTCOM’s newly-created Scorpion Strike attack-drone task force has been among the first US units to use attack-drones abroad, employing the American answer to Iranian-made Shahed drones, the Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System, or LUCAS, which costs around $35,000 each.
Sarah Nelson/US Army
What Dark Eagle would bring to the fight
The US has amassed a massive force around the Middle East during the war in Iran. Prior to the ceasefire, the US launched large amounts of Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles, PrSM, M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems GPS-guided rockets, and other weapons to strike over 13,000 Iranian military targets.
Those targets have included air defenses, command and control networks, ballistic missile sites, naval assets, defense-industrial infrastructure, and storage sites for missiles and drones. The US has also employed Patriot interceptors and Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense systems to defend itself and its allies from Iranian ballistic missiles and drones.
Dark Eagle would extend the reach of US firepower beyond even the range of Tomahawk cruise missiles, although it is clear that the US has had no trouble striking Iran from even short distances, including bombing runs directly overhead. Dark Eagle’s speed and range would make it particularly useful for striking targets deeper in Iran.
The ceasefire, which began on April 8th, remains on shaky ground. The Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed by both of the combatants, and President Donald Trump said Friday that he was not satisfied with Iran’s latest offer.
