Mike Stone

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The Pentagon is asking defense contractors for a reduction in the cost of hypersonic weaponry, said the Pentagon head of research and developmental on Tuesday. This was because the cost of the next generation super-fast missiles currently being developed costs tens to millions of dollars per unit.

At the Association of United States Army conference, Heidi Shyu said that she needed to “find a way to make hypersonics more affordable.” She stated that cost is something she would like to see the industry pay attention to.

The U.S. currently uses cruise missiles, which are advanced technologies that cost less than $5million per unit. They strike deeply into enemy territory. Cruise missiles, however, have lower ranges and are slower than hypersonic weapons and are therefore less likely to be detected or shot down.

Both Lockheed Martin Raytheon Technologies (NYSE 🙂 and Raytheon Technologies (NYSE 🙂 work on hypersonic weaponry for the Pentagon.

In the fiscal year 2022, Pentagon requested $3.8 billion for hypersonic research. This was an increase of $3.2 billion from previous years.

A hypersonic, air-breathing weapon with a speed greater than 5 times that of sound was successfully tested by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in September. This was the first test conducted with this weapon class since 2013.

Hypersonic weapons move in the upper atmosphere at speeds more than five times that of sound or approximately 6,200km (3,853 mile) per hour.

Shyu stated that “if success stories start to emerge and we buy more than one-siz twosies, the price will fall.”

Russia claimed that it has successfully tested the Tsirkon Zircon hypersonic cruise missile. This weapon was touted by President Vladimir Putin as part of an entirely new range of missile systems.