Mach 5 missiles spur new arms race as US seeks to match China

The military's renewed interest in ultra-high-speed missiles opens the door to lucrative contracts that could last decades

Top US defence contractors are competing for billions of dollars of work tied to the next big technology focus in national-security circles: hypersonic weapons.

The military’s renewed interest in ultra-high-speed missiles — spurred by concern the US is lagging Russia and China —opens the door to lucrative contracts that could last decades. The industry is developing an array of the super-high speed armaments that can be launched from planes, submarines and trucks.

Lockheed Martin is leading in key programmes that aim to deliver prototypes the soonest —  with flight tests on a new missile slated for the first half of next year. Raytheon Technologies  and Northrop Grumman are also eyeing a toehold in the market for missiles that fly at more than five times the speed of sound.