The hypersonics are coming with $928 million USAF contract | DARPA’s Gremlins program enters Phase III | Is PAC’s JF-17 Malaysia’s fighter solution?
Apr 20, 2018 05:00 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff
Americas
Lockheed Martin landed Wednesday, April 18, a $928 million US Air Force contract external link for the delivery of an undefined number of hypersonic conventional strike weapons. According to the Pentagon statement, Lockheed’s work includes the design, development, engineering, systems integration, test, logistics planning, and aircraft integration support of all the elements of a hypersonic, conventional, air-launched, stand-off weapon. Work will take place in Huntsville, Alabama, with no contract completion date given. “We are excited to get to work on the hypersonic conventional strike weapon program,†John Snyder, Lockheed Martin vice president of Air Force Strategic Programs, said in an emailed statement external link quoted by CNBC. Hypersonic missiles are capable of traveling at speeds of Mach 5 or higher, which is at least five times faster than the speed of sound, or about one mile per second. Meanwhile, commercial airliners fly subsonically at just below Mach 1 while modern fighter jets can travel supersonically at Mach 2 or Mach 3.
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