The Pentagon announced that US defense giants Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman have received contracts to develop missiles that could protect the United States from hypersonic attacks.
Hypersonic missiles, like traditional ballistic missiles, can fly more than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5).
But they are more maneuverable than their ballistic counterparts and can track low trajectory in the atmosphere, making it difficult to defend against them.
According to the Pentagon, the three contracts were awarded for the development of gliding interceptors and together cost more than $ 60 million.
Vice Admiral Johnny Wolfe, director of strategic systems programs for the U.S. Navy, said the U.S. is looking to deploy hypersonic systems to the military in fiscal 2023. Nuclear submarines will be equipped with hypersonic missiles in 2028, destroyers will receive hypersonic weapons in 2025.
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