Air Force Space Command personnel launched an unarmed Minuteman III ICBM from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., at 6 a.m. on April 7 as part of a development test to demonstrate the missile’s effectiveness. The missile’s unarmed re-entry vehicle traveled about 5,000 miles, hitting a predetermined water target near the island of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.
Facing competition from fast-growing startups, Lockheed Martin is speeding up production of an “affordable, scalable” hypersonic glide body, dubbed the Next Generation Glide Body, the firm said in a June 24 release.