The US Air Force skipped having competitive hypersonic cruise missiles prototypes and only has Lockheed for its $1 billion hypersonic cruise missile development contract. There was not enough money for multiple prototypes.
Lockheed is to deliver hypersonic missiles with early operational capability by 2022.
The Air Force will have competition among possible component suppliers for the hypersonic conventional strike weapon through the use of standard interfaces.
The USAF received statements of capability from 12 companies in developing a hypersonic missile in June 2017. The hypersonic conventional strike weapon programme office deemed only five to be viable vendors: Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon Missile Systems and Orbital ATK. Only four of the five viable vendors submitted bids.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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