With rivals China and Russia rapidly developing hypersonic weapons capable of penetrating defenses to launch devastating attacks on their enemies, the US Air Force prepares to enter the arms race in style, making it known that they are not yet ready to surrender the step to the adversaries, in terms of advanced armament.
The Air Force, on Thursday, posted a contract announcement online, asking for qualified suppliers with expertise in hypersonic aerodynamics, air protection systems, advanced hypersonic guidance, navigation and control ... and so on to assist the service in research into "rapid development , production and support of hypersonic weapons. "
The awarding of the contract seems to be an open demand for all hypersonic concepts and development programs.
The Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a contract in August for the ARRW, a hypersonic weapon, the second such contract offered by the Air Force this year. In April, Loockeed Martin was awarded a contract for the Hypersonic Conventional Strike (HCSW).
According to The Drive, the Air Force has four different hypersonic weapons programs in place for the B-52, and under development of the submarine systems. And, there certainly could be more.
The newfound interest in hypersonic weapons comes after repeated warnings from senior military officials that the United States was losing its advantage over its competitors. "The development of hypersonic weapons in China exceeds ours… we are behind scheduleAdmiral Harry Harris, former head of the US Pacific Command, said in February.
The head of US Strategic Command warned in March that the United States needs to strengthen its defenses, explaining to the Senate Armed Services Commission that the US has no system to prevent the use of such a weapon against the country.
"The recently signed National Defense Authorization Act of 2019", faced with certain emerging threats by US rivals, approves investments in American missile defense capabilities.
"The homeland is no longer a sanctuary," said Air Force Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy, head of the US Northern Command. "We are in a constantly evolving security environment: we used to think of the sanctuary we had, surrounded by oceans and friendly countries from north to south, but this is changing with the adversaries who, now, are actually able to reach us ”.
At the beginning of August, China experimentally tested the hypersonic aircraft Xingkong-2 (Stary Sky-2) capable of flying at speeds equal to that of Mach 6. Reportedly, the hypersonic aircraft could be used as a hypersonic launch platform capable of carrying conventional and nuclear cargoes and evading modern air and missile defenses.
China, which has made the development of hypersonic systems a national priority, called the test a "huge success".
Russia has also experimented with advanced hypersonic systems and by next year, for example, it should deploy its high-speed hypersonic aircraft Avangard on the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile. They are also experimenting with the hypersonic cruise missile Kinzhal (Dagger), which may be ready for combat within the 2020.