Air Force awards Raytheon lucrative hypersonic missile contract

Air Force awards Raytheon lucrative hypersonic cruise missile contract – Bent Corner
Artist rendition of the Raytheon cruise missile (image: Raytheon)

The U.S. Air Force awarded a nearly $1 billion contract to Raytheon to develop a hypersonic cruise missile prototype that fighter aircraft can launch.

From Stars and Stripes:

The Air Force awarded a nearly $1 billion contract for development of a new hypersonic missile system that could be fielded within five years, the service said Thursday.

Raytheon will be tasked with developing prototypes for a hypersonic attack cruise missile, which is an air-launched weapon designed to be used against high-value targets, the Air Force said. It is being developed in tandem with Australia’s air force.

I don’t understand why this is an U.S. Air Force project when the U.S. Navy will also need to deploy these weapons.

The U.S. Air Force already has a hypersonic missile system in development, the Lockheed Martin AGM-183 ARRW.

Air Force awards Raytheon lucrative hypersonic cruise missile contract – Bent Corner
A B-52H loaded with AGM-183 ARRW hypersonic missiles.

Judging by the size of the AGM-183 missiles in relation to the B-52H, I don’t think fighter aircraft can deploy these missiles.

If a missile is traveling five times the speed of sound, does it even need an explosive warhead? A missile traveling at mach 5 with a payload of 1,000 pounds of depleted uranium would deliver an outrageous amount of kinetic force on target.

Explosives seem incompletely unnecessary at mach 5.


Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top