In this story, we dive in deep, going point by point throughout the flight path of a hypersonic boost-glide weapon and comparing the UCS analysis with its critiques.
In essence, the critics argue the Union of Concerned Scientists got something wrong at every step of their analysis, from the technical details to the strategic implications.
DARPA’s Project Falcon hypersonic testbed, HTV-2
UCS based their model on decade-old flight tests of an experimental DARPA design, HTV-2, which never completed a full flight test and is very different from the newer hypersonics weapons now in development.
UCS graded the model on two key metrics, flight time and detectability. They concluded the hypersonic weapon would reach the US from Russia, a 5,000 mile flight, only five minutes faster than a traditional ICBM, and it could be readily detected en route by existing early-warning satellites. But they didn’t refute the larger reason America’s adversaries are pursuing hypersonics: It’s not
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L3Harris Technologies was awarded a $121 million U.S. Missile Defense Agency contract to build space flight hardware to demonstrate the company’s solution for the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) program.
“Our near-peer adversaries are making rapid advancements in missile technologies, posing a threat to our forward-deployed forces, allies and nation,” said Ed Zoiss, President, L3Harris Space and Airborne Systems. “L3Harris is leveraging our long-standing expertise in infrared remote sensing, advanced processing and communications, in addition to our recent wins in responsive space missions, to enable the Missile Defense Agency to quickly field significantly more capable and cost-effective mission solutions to address these threats.”
Operator
Greetings, and welcome to the L3Harris Technologies Fourth Quarter Calendar Year 2020 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions].
It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Rajeev Lalwani, Vice President, Investor Relations. You may begin.
Rajeev Lalwani
Vice President of Investor Relations
Thank you, Rob. Good morning, and welcome to our fourth quarter 2020 earnings call. On the call with me today are Bill Brown, our CEO; Chris Kubasik, our COO; and Jay Malave, our CFO. First, a few words on forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures. Forward-looking statements involve risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially.