Lt. Gen. Heath Collins, director of the Missile Defense Agency prepares before the House Armed Services Subcommittee FY27 missile defense and missile defeat programs and activities hearing in the Rayburn House office Building on April 15, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Luke Johnson/Getty Images)
If the demonstration is successful, Project Maverick could lead MDA to fielding an interim counter-hypersonic weapon until the Glide Phase Interceptor is delivered in the 2030s.
GULF OF ADEN (Dec. 14, 2021) — Amphibious transport dock ship USS Portland (LPD 27) conducts a high-energy laser weapon system demonstration on a static surface training target, Dec. 14, while sailing in the Gulf of Aden. The photograph was captured utilizing a short wave infrared lens and optical filter. (U.S. Navy photo illustration by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Devin Kates)
"One of the biggest challenges is simply that early part of the decision-making in that counter kill chain," according to the DOD's principal director for directed energy.
Boeing is expected to develop and test technologies for a hypersonic interceptor prototype and perform computational fluid dynamics analysis, wind tunnel testing and evaluation of aerodynamic jet…
U.S. President Joe Biden (L) shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a joint news conference with Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (not pictured) three-way talks at Camp David on August 18, 2023 in Camp David, Maryland. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Capt. Emily Neumann, assigned to 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, participates in a missile defense exercise aboard the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Shiloh, Feb. 24, 2015. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman David Flewellyn/Released)
The TORCH program aims to develop and demonstrate advanced optical system design for the detection, identification and tracking of hypersonic cruise missiles.
A common hypersonic glide body (C-HGB) launches from Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii, March 19, 2020, during a Department of Defense flight experiment. (U.S. Navy photo by Luke Lamborn)
