Setting aside hypersonic flight, Boeing’s Darryl Davis says a supersonic platform is well within the realm of the possible by 2018. However, a supersonic, intercontinental platform would probably weigh two to 2.5 times as much as a subsonic platform, Davis noted. In aircraft, weight usually equates to cost. Davis said Boeing is looking at hybrid concepts of motherships and drones, or standoff sensors coupled with passive penetrators.
The Air Force is launching an effort to develop a new stand-off missile with a range of 1,000 nautical miles, or 1,150 miles, that would eventually be used for both air-to-air and air-to-surface missions.