WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — “Raytheon Co., Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded a $174,746,702 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for a research project under the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) program," the release stated on Monday. "The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity."
HAWC is a joint DARPA, US Air Force program that seeks to develop and demonstrate critical technologies to enable an effective air-launched hypersonic cruise missile for long-range strike capabilities against time-critical or heavily defended targets.
Hypersonic weapons that would travel at five times the speed of sound (Mach 5) and beyond will improve future US offensive strike operations, particularly as adversaries’ capabilities advance.
