Air Force awards massive hypersonic-weapon contract to Lockheed Martin

[Peter1469]

Air Force awards massive hypersonic-weapon contract to Lockheed Martin

Such weapons could replace nuclear weapons- along with EMP weapons.

After repeated warnings that Russia and China have each developed a hypersonic missile that could punch through U.S. missile defenses, the U.S. Air Force says it will spend an estimated $1 billion to develop one of its own.


The service announced Wednesday that it has awarded Bethesda, Md.-based defense giant Lockheed Martin a $928 million contract to design, develop and test an air-launched hypersonic strike weapon, which would travel far faster than the speed of sound. One official described the plan as being the second of two U.S. efforts to do so. The other is a project jointly managed by the Air Force and DARPA, the Defense Department’s weapons development agency, called the Tactical Boost Glide program.


Both are part of a program to develop advanced prototypes that can later be fielded on U.S. jets.


“The Air Force is using prototyping to explore the art of the possible and to advance these technologies to a capability as quickly as possible,” Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said.
Lockheed Martin executives have emphasized hypersonic aircraft and weaponry as an area of intense interest.


“We are committed to the development of state-of-the-art hypersonic technologies, and we are excited to get to work on the Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon program,” Jon Snyder, Lockheed Martin’s vice president for Air Force Strategic Programs, said in an emailed statement.


Defense Department officials have warned publicly that hypersonic weapons could punch through U.S. missile defenses, which are meant to protect the United States from a nuclear first strike. Anything traveling faster than Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, is considered hypersonic and may be too fast for some systems to shoot down.


Russian President Vladimir Putin, during an address to his nation last month, boasted that the Russian military had developed and tested a hypersonic missile, and U.S. officials have said that China has a similar capability.

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[MMC]

How about we also tell Lockheed no selling Weapons to any other countries too.

[Peter1469]

How about we also tell Lockheed no selling Weapons to any other countries too.

We have laws regarding weapons exports.

[MMC]

We have laws regarding weapons exports.

Good and other industries should start thinking about the Country first too. Never sell out to the Chinese, Russians, Arabs or any other foreigners.

[jimmyz]

How many of our weapon systems are sold to so called friendly nations only to be re-sold at a profit to countries like China to be reverse engineered and produced by them saving billions in R&D?

[MisterVeritis]

How about we also tell Lockheed no selling Weapons to any other countries too.

Why would we do that?

[MisterVeritis]

Good and other industries should start thinking about the Country first too. Never sell out to the Chinese, Russians, Arabs or any other foreigners.

Why would we do such a goofy thing?

[MisterVeritis]

How many of our weapon systems are sold to so called friendly nations only to be re-sold at a profit to countries like China to be reverse engineered and produced by them saving billions in R&D?

Most countries steal the plans directly.

[MMC]

Why would we do such a goofy thing?

Whats goofy is selling land and businesses here in the US to them. Never give up the land.

[Don]

We used to be the leaders in new technology. Our enemies and sometimes our allies stole our secrets. Then we just developed something better. Now we're the ones playing catch up. We need to develop laser systems that could put a virtual shield around our country and our military forces.