U.S. company Lockheed Martin conducted the first flight tests of the hypersonic ground-based missile system

By: Myroslav Trinko | 14.07.2022, 14:31

Lockheed Martin has conducted the first flight tests of a ground-based hypersonic missile system in the United States.

What we know

It was reported by the Office of Advanced Research Projects of the U.S. Department of Defense (DARPA). The tests took place at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. For the first time a special US Marine Corps (USMC) logistics truck was used as a launch vehicle.

Such a missile system is part of the Operational Fires (OpFires) program. Its main purpose is to develop and demonstrate a two-stage land-based propulsion system capable of using hypersonic missiles that can penetrate modern air defenses and accurately engage targets.

For those who do not know

A hypersonic weapon is a missile weapon whose warhead moves at hypersonic speeds in the atmosphere. That is more than 5 Mach numbers or between 5000-25000 km/h. The first ideas to create hypersonic weapons appeared during the Second World War. The idea was suggested by the Austrian scientist Ejen Senger.

Source: DARPA

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