The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) announced this week that it successfully completed the second test launch of a hypersonic missile amid continued efforts to surpass Russia and China in developing the emerging class of weaponry.
In a Jan. 30 statement, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and U.S. Air Force said the Lockheed Martin-built hypersonic missile reached speeds greater than Mach 5—which means more than five times faster than the speed of sound, or around 3,800 miles per hour (6,116 kilometers per hour).
The Hypersonic Air-Breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) performed as predicted after it was launched from a B-52 bomber last month, defense technology producer Lockheed Martin Aeronautics said in a press release, noting that the test doubled the amount of scramjet-powered vehicle data….