The US military has sewn up air supremacy “for decades to come” with its new stealth aircraft— the F-22A and the F-35—acknowledges defense analyst Daniel Goure of the Lexington Institute, but he believes DOD is behind the curve when it comes to developing the next “key to the future”—airbreathing hypersonic flight. Goure writes, “At present, neither DOD nor NASA are spending much money developing hypersonic capabilities.” He calls that fact “worrisome.”
The Pentagon announced new long-term agreements with four defense companies May 13 to develop and produce large numbers of low-cost cruise missiles. And while the effort will focus mostly on the Army to start, it pairs with Air Force efforts to find more affordable munitions.