Integrated Weapon System continues development The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) a $31.9 million contract for the Operational Fires (OpFires) Phase 3 Weapon System Integration program. OpFires seeks to develop and demonstrate an innovative ground-launched system to enable a hypersonic boost glide missile system to penetrate modern enemy air […]

Building upon its pioneering work in hypersonics, Aerojet Rocketdyne is supporting a Lockheed Martin effort to develop a hypersonic conventional missile for the U.S. Air Force under a subcontract valued at $81.5 million. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor on the U.S. Air Force’s Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon (HCSW), an air-launched, stand-off weapon that will […]

A hypersonic weapon moving at five times the speed of sound can travel across the Pacific Ocean in just over 100 minutes. U.S. adversaries are developing such weapons now, said Michael D. Griffin, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering. “They are quite capable,” Griffin said. “The advantage offered by a hypersonic offense is that […]

DefenceTalkThe U.S. Air Force successfully conducted the first flight test of its AGM-183A Air Launched Rapid Response Weapon, or ARRW, on a B-52 Stratofortress aircraft on June 12 at Edwards Air Force Base, California. A sensor-only version of the ARRW prototype was carried externally by a B-52 during the test to gather environmental and aircraft […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-air-force-conducts-successful-hypersonic-weapon-flight-test-72323/

DefenceTalkChina has successfully developed and tested a cutting-edge waverider hypersonic aircraft, according to the China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics in Beijing. The academy, part of the State-owned space contractor China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, announced on Friday that the first flight test of its Starry Sky 2, which it calls the nation’s first hypersonic […]https://www.defencetalk.com/china-claims-first-successful-test-of-hypersonic-aircraft-71787/

DefenceTalkThe first tests of the Russian Navy’s new hypersonic Zircon cruise missiles have been launched in Russia, a senior defense industry source said Thursday. “The tests of the hypersonic Zircon missiles have begun using a ground-based launching site,” the source told RIA Novosti. The weapon is expected to reach the speed of 5-6 Mach. It […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russia-tests-new-hypersonic-zircon-cruise-missiles-for-5th-gen-subs-67108/

DefenceTalkScientific experiments carried out by China within its borders are normal, conducted according to a schedule, and are not directed against any specific country or target, the Ministry of National Defense said. The ministry’s press office was responding to a US media report claiming that China conducted a third test flight of a new hypersonic […]https://www.defencetalk.com/china-hypersonic-tests-target-no-specific-country-61124/

DefenceTalkThe US military had to detonate a hypersonic weapon seconds after lift-off Monday due to a technical problem, cutting short a flight test for the experimental project, officials said. “Less than four seconds into the lift-off phase, we terminated the flight,” Pentagon spokeswoman Maureen Schumann told AFP. The decision to abort the flight test in […]https://www.defencetalk.com/hypersonic-weapon-detonated-after-lift-off-us-military-60434/

DefenceTalkIn 1976, U.S. Air Force SR-71 Blackbird crews flew from New York to London in less than two hours, reaching speeds exceeding Mach 3 and setting world records that have held up for nearly four decades. But those world records may not stay unbroken for long. That’s because today, at the birthplace of the Blackbird […]https://www.defencetalk.com/speed-is-the-new-stealth-meet-the-sr-72-49558/

DefenceTalkThe final flight of the X-51A Waverider test program has accomplished a breakthrough in the development of flight reaching Mach 5.1 over the Pacific Ocean May 1. “It was a full mission success,” said Charlie Brink, the X-51A program manager for the Air Force Research Laboratory Aerospace Systems Directorate. The cruiser traveled more than 230 […]https://www.defencetalk.com/x-51a-waverider-achieves-breakthrough-in-final-flight-47678/