It was announced in Palmdale in the US state of California on Tuesday that the country had successfully carried out a flight test of the ‘Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept’ (HAWC). The HAWC was jointly developed and tested by the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the (US) Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), aerospace and defence group Lockheed Martin and rocket and other space propulsion and power systems company Aerojet Rocketdyne.

Hypersonic speeds are speeds that are equivalent to, or greater than, five times the speed of sound (or Mach 5 in aerospace terminology). During the test flight, the HAWC exceeded Mach 5 and reached altitudes higher than 65 000 feet (19 812 m).

“Our work with DARPA and AFRL on the HAWC programme demonstrates that air-breathing hypersonic systems are a cost-effective solution to address rapidly emerging threats in the global security arena,” highlighted Lockheed Martin Advanced Development Programmes (ADP) VP and GM John Clark. “The success of this flight test is evidence that a strong partnership between government and industry is key to solving our nation’s most difficult challenges and enabling new capabilities to counter threats to US and allied forces.”

ADP was far better known by its originally unofficial but now official and formal nickname – the Skunk Works. And HAWC was not the only hypersonic project that Lockheed Martin was working on.

The test flight increased the consortium’s understanding of hypersonic speed flight regime operations. Absolutely no details about the HAWC design, structure and manufacture were released. An artist’s impression was released, but from a perspective that gave no clue as to the nature and shape of the air intake or the engine.

Coincidently, on the same day, the US, the UK and Australia jointly announced they were to cooperate on the development of “hypersonics and counter-hypersonics”. This would take place under the aegis of the Australia-UK-US partnership, better known as AUKUS. The formation of AUKUS was announced in September last year.