US Navy’s next-generation high-speed missile might not be hypersonic
Hypersonic missiles will give the US Navy extended strike capability to hit enemy ships at range before they have a chance to engage its own vessels. The US is making a concerted effort to catch up to Russia and China in the hypersonic missile race. (Photo: Lockheed Martin)
Concepts for new missiles for the US Navy (USN) are being finalised under the Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive Anti-Surface Weapon (HALO) programme.
HALO is the second part of the wider Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (OASuW) project that aims to increase naval air power with longer-range surface strike capabilities. Both Lockheed Martin and Raytheon were awarded Phase 1 HALO contracts in March 2023 to develop early design solutions to meet the HALO concept.
According to a spokesperson from the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) Precision Strike Weapons programme office (PMA-201) the initial contract activities are ‘focussing on system concepts, model-based systems engineering, preliminary design, technology scaling and technology integration efforts’.
The spokesperson told Shephard that in the near term the programme will allocate requirements
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