A DARPA-led project has successfully completed the final test of Lockheed Martin's Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) missile. During the span of 300 nm and powered by an Aerojet Rocketdyne scramjet, the vehicle exceeded Mach 5. (350 miles, 560 km).

DARPA, the US Air Force, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Lockheed Martin, and Aerojet Rocketdyne collaborated on the test flight this month. Similar to the previous two test flights, a B-52H Stratofortress bomber dropped the vehicle, which was made up of a solid rocket engine booster, a glider protective shroud, and a glider vehicle with a kinetic-energy projectile warhead.

After the glider was deployed, the booster automatically ignited to accelerate it to supersonic speeds. Then, a scramjet engine took over, causing it to accelerate to more than five times the speed of sound and reach a height of more than 60,000 feet (18,000 m).

The US Air Force is considering two variants of the scramjet engine that powers the missile, and according to Lockheed, the test increased the data on that engine by a factor of two. Raytheon is working on the other. Before the following phase of three test flights in which the missile will be fitted with a live warhead, the data will be utilized to enhance the technology and expand the performance envelope.

"According to Andrew "Tippy" Knoedler, the HAWC program manager, "the HAWC program produced a new generation of hypersonic engineers and scientists. The air-breathing hypersonic community benefited greatly from the data and advancements that HAWC delivered. The industry teams made a serious effort to tackle the scramjet-powered vehicle challenge, and we had the perseverance and good fortune to pull it off."

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