Pentagon opens new hypersonic weapons round with formal July 9 call for prototype missiles above Mach 5, responses due August 10
The Pentagon is accelerating its hypersonic push. On July 9 it issued a formal call for industry to design prototype missiles that fly faster than five times the speed of sound, giving contractors until August 10 to respond. The effort runs through a Navy-administered consortium
The Pentagon is pushing to speed up American hypersonic weapons development. On July 9 it issued a formal Request for Solutions, asking defense industry to design prototype missiles capable of flying faster than five times the speed of sound. Companies have until August 10 to respond, a notably tight window that points to urgency inside the Department of War. The opportunity runs through the Strategic and Spectrum Missions Advanced Resilient Trusted Systems consortium, known as S2MARTS, and is being administered by the Naval Surface Warfare Center's Crane Division in Indiana. Using this consortium lets the government move faster than traditional procurement, awarding prototype work through streamlined agreements rather than lengthy contract competitions. Hypersonic weapons matter because their speed and maneuverability make them extremely hard to track and intercept, compressing the time a defender has to react. The US has run repeated test flights over the past two years but has lagged behind China and Russia, both of which have already fielded operational hypersonic systems. A faster prototype pipeline is how Washington hopes to close that gap. Per Defense Post reporting.