WASHINGTON — The speed just boggles the mind.
In testing at Holloman Air Base in New Mexico last month, experimental sleds were made to travel at Mach 8.6. That's 6,599 miles per hour or one mile per second.
American defense contractors Raytheon and Lockheed Martin have been working on the technology for years. Hypersonic weapons development is one of the Department of Defense's highest development priorities.
Annual unclassified defense spending requests for hypersonic technology -- both offensive and defensive -- are already more than $3 billion.
One reason? China and Russia are developing them, too.
The Pentagon's director of defense research and engineering for modernization Mark Lewis said time is of the essence.
"It's very difficult to stop a hypersonic weapon," Lewis said. "That's why we want to pursue them. That's why our peer competitors are pursuing them."
Lewis spoke Wednesday during a virtual symposium streamed on the Department of Defense website.
"There has been a keen recognition we are indeed in a race in this area," he said. "And I can say with some frustration we kind of did the homework for the rest of the world. Hypersonics is an area that we essentially invented. We did the fundamental development, we did the research."
The Air Force wants to field its air-launched version in 2022. The Navy wants its ship-launched capability fielded in 2023 followed by a submarine-launched missile in 2024.