Posted on 08/19/2018 12:56:03 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Hypersonic technology -- weapons and interceptors able to travel at least five times the speed of sound -- are a top Pentagon priority and an area where China and Russia are perceived to be ahead of U.S. military efforts. The Defense Department has committed to spend aggressively to catch up. Based on initial contract awards, it's becoming clear that Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) is outpacing the competition in the battle to win the lion's share of those awards.
Lockheed Martin earlier this month was awarded a $480 million contract to develop a hypersonic air-launched, rapid response weapon (ARRW). The award could be worth as much as $780 million over five years, assuming the company is authorized to move into low-rate initial production.
Lockheed beat out Boeing (NYSE:BA), Raytheon (NYSE:RTN), and Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) for the award. It's the second major hypersonic win for Lockheed Martin in recent months, following a $928 million award back in April to develop a separate hypersonic conventional strike weapon (HCSW). Lockheed has also been working with NASA since 2014 to create a hypersonic version of its SR-72 spy plane, an award worth $892 million, and is developing a high-speed commercial prototype.
The Air Force views the HCSW approach as using existing technologies that have not been integrated for air-launched hypersonic weapons, while the ARRW approach is focused on developing new technologies....
(Excerpt) Read more at fool.com ...
Like I tell my wife: If you see an advanced “science fiction” seeming technology on television or a movie, we’ve already had it for 20 or 30 years.
> Lockheed has also been working with NASA since 2014 to create a hypersonic version of its SR-72 spy plane
Tiny quibble, they mean the SR-71 spy plane — the slang for the hypersonic iteration is SR-72.
Lockheed had a program to develop a faster, unmanned spy vehicle, and had a test program for it, firing it across the length of Asia, making overflights of China. The program had its plug pulled (there wasn’t the level of circuitry available to build a reliable autonomous guidance), but the rest of the test beds went into storage. Those were revived for resumption of testing when Ben Rich was still alive.
In the 1960s Lockheed Martin rolled out the SR-71 Blackbird less than 60 years after the first flight by the Wright brothers...
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Pretty remarkable advancement when you think about it.
and an area where China and Russia are perceived to be ahead of U.S. military efforts”
Really? First time I’ve head that.
It’s a perception the Chinese and Russians have been working hard to promote.
When are they going to reveal that fusion reactor that they promised was right around the corner a few years back?
Imagine what we could have accomplished if we had diversity quotas back then!
Saw the SR 71 at a few air shows over the years. Loudest engines of the bunch in those air shows for sure.
“Pretty remarkable advancement when you think about it.”
Back then we didn’t use computers - engineer had to UNDERSTAND what they were designing, hence the SR-71 and Apollo.
“the SR-71 Blackbird .... top speed is still classified.”
The engine intake geometry is varied as the SR-71’s speed is varied. The engine has an obvious geometry. The SR=71 has an obvious speed.
It’s actually a time machine staying just 25 years ahead of us, in the future!
Back then we didn’t use computers - engineer had to UNDERSTAND what they were designing, hence the SR-71 and Apollo.
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...adn it was the era of the slide-rule to do calculations!
*** Who is admitted speed is Mach 3+ and the top speed is still classified. ***
Top speed was Mach 3.2. That is well documented. The engines would melt if you pushed it any faster. Core engine temp was the ‘limiting factor’ and the material used are also now know. The A-12 was a tad faster at Mach 3.25. But it was a lighter craft and only a single-seater. It was probably capable of flying a bit higher and that is the main reason it flew a higher Mach number.
#6 We also have use of a stargate.
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