
Lockheed Martin to develop ground-launched hypersonic missile - sahin-boydas
https://newatlas.com/military/lockheed-martin-develop-ground-launched-hypersonic-missile/
======
wnkrshm
There is an interesting discussion about the effects of hypersonic nuclear
capable missiles and glide vehicles here [0]. In summary, this doesn't change
much. But what the larger players are afraid of is proliferation of hypersonic
missile technology [1].

[0] [https://thebulletin.org/2020/01/hypersonic-missiles-new-
arms...](https://thebulletin.org/2020/01/hypersonic-missiles-new-arms-race-
going-nowhere-fast/#)

[1] [https://www.rand.org/blog/2018/03/hypersonic-missiles-a-
new-...](https://www.rand.org/blog/2018/03/hypersonic-missiles-a-new-
proliferation-challenge.html)

~~~
rapsey
[0] Is I have to say simply wrong on every point.

Russia has large missile defense deployments S400 and S500 and selling them to
lots of countries. This is in no way a secret and a huge bone of contention
between Turkey and the US for their purchase of S400.

Hypersonic missiles make aircraft carriers sitting ducks without any defense.
This is a pretty damn large shift in military power at the US expense.

~~~
DuskStar
For hypersonic missiles to work against ships, they require either nukes - in
which case conventional ICBMs on a lower trajectory work fine - or terminal
guidance, which is an absolute _bitch_ through 3000K plasma. There's a
difference between being maneuverable and maneuvering _to hit a moving target_
, after all.

I don't think they change the naval balance of power much.

------
retiredalien
Lockheed was intimately involved in the current UFO story being promoted. They
had worked on and off for years with Bigelow Aerospace. When Bigelow won the
AATIP contract, 2 of the 38 Defense Intelligence Reference Documents were
written by highly credible Lockheed scientists.

It’s assumed that Bigelow affiliates initially enchanted Lockheed with the
credibility of former intelligence employees. In 2015, Lockheed executives
invited Tom DeLonge to a barbecue for Skunk Works. Bigelow affiliates were
there.

They were all involved in helping DeLonge’s pitch for media projects to
promote aerospace and the Pentagon to younger audiences. UFOs weren’t
discussed until the 2nd or 3rd meeting. Detailed here-
[https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/28377/tom-delonges-
ori...](https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/28377/tom-delonges-origin-story-
for-to-the-stars-academy-describes-a-government-info-operation)

Later, prominent executives from Lockheed Skunk Works and a Major General were
talking with DeLonge and John Podesta. All under the assumption that Hillary
Clinton would win the Presidency.

Later, Lockheed dropped out. It’s impossible to know the extent of what’s
happening but it would be illegal for the US Government to engage in
disinformation either directly or indirectly. The claim that DeLonge’s
operation is controlled by the CIA is false. The former intelligence people
working with him are true believers who lack any actual evidence of aliens.

Most likely, a highly sophisticated private group with complex financial
incentives is purposely misleading individuals and groups. They’re exploiting
naive former government employees and dubious government scientists who skirt
the line of fraud in the pursuit of radical technology. And the Air Force uses
it for cover and the CIA for national security vectors and foreign
disinformation.

~~~
dirtyid
>it would be illegal for the US Government to engage in disinformation

Smith–Mundt Act of 2012 legalized domestic dissemination of propaganda.

~~~
extra88
"The U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 (Public Law
80-402), popularly called the Smith–Mundt Act, is the basic legislative
authorization for propaganda activities conducted by the U.S. Department of
State, sometimes called 'public diplomacy.' [...] The Smith-Mundt
Modernization Act of 2012 [...] allowing for materials produced by the State
Department and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) to be available
within the United States."

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith–Mundt_Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith–Mundt_Act)

------
torgian
Cool, more ways to kill eachother. Woo.

~~~
newguy1234
That's why we should always be asking our elected officials, why continue the
madness?

~~~
ardy42
> That's why we should always be asking our elected officials, why continue
> the madness?

Allowing one's arsenal to slowly become obsolete is akin to disarmament, and
unilateral disarmament isn't wise if one values their independence.

Similar weapons are being deployed by the US's military rivals:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DF-ZF](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DF-ZF)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avangard_(hypersonic_glide_veh...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avangard_\(hypersonic_glide_vehicle\))

This particular madness will continue until all major powers come to some
measure of political unity. A helpful first step would be for all of them to
_have_ elected officials.

~~~
lvs
Absurd. When does it end? Or are we just caught in this dangerous resource
drain ad infinitum?

~~~
ardy42
> When does it end?

I already answered that:

>> This particular madness will continue until all major powers come to some
measure of political unity. A helpful first step would be for all of them to
_have_ elected officials.

Alternatively, the US and other democracies could be destroyed and their
populations either exterminated or forcefully assimilated into some kind of
authoritarian world superstate.

~~~
lvs
> Alternatively, the US and other democracies could be destroyed and their
> populations either exterminated or forcefully assimilated into some kind of
> authoritarian world superstate.

A false choice you attempt to make true by ensuring the cycle of escalation
never ends. No US war since 1945 has been undertaken for the purpose you
ascribe.

~~~
ardy42
> A false choice you attempt to make true by ensuring the cycle of escalation
> never ends. No US war since 1945 has been undertaken for the purpose you
> ascribe.

You don't understand deterrence.

~~~
lvs
You know what I understand? How are you inside my head?

In fact, an understanding of deterrence is the basis for my critique.
Deterrence is just branding for an endless cycle of escalation, investment,
and global danger. It's almost as if, perhaps, you weren't alive during the
Cold War and don't understand its absurdity.

------
chrisbennet
"At DeathTech, we don't make the missles that kill people, we make them
deader."

[From BASF the chemical company's "We don't make a lot of the products you
buy. We make a lot of the products you buy better"]

------
analognoise
Building badass shit like that is pretty damn cool.

------
amishadowbanned
i wish i was a US Citizen so I could work on things like this. I assume you'd
need TS-SCI....

~~~
newguy1234
If you are smart enough to work on projects like that you should be putting
your efforts to the benefits of humanity, not helping regimes build weapons of
mass destruction. We need to end this madness we call the "arms race". This
threat is greater than global warming.

~~~
m0zg
The arms race was the main driver of progress in the 20th century, with
countless civilian applications, including the Internet. We could use a good
old fashioned arms race nowadays. It creates demand for top notch science and
engineering like nothing else.

And you could argue this benefits humanity, too, even besides the technology
transfer. There hasn't been a world war since 1945, and the only real reason
for that is that it would end really badly for everyone involved.

~~~
monadic2
Imagine how much we could have progressed if we just focused on progress
rather than acquiring power through intimidation in some artificial zero sum
game.

~~~
m0zg
Yeah, I'm trying to imagine that, but then I remember that we live in the real
world here, with finite resources, and thousands of years of history, not in
some utopia where everyone sings kumbaya and dances merrily around a campfire.

~~~
monadic2
Yes, this is true: If you denuclearize you too will end up with a bayonet up
your ass in the street.

------
Animats
We have an arms race again! Putin announced hypersonic missiles, and now the
US has to have one.

~~~
cobalt
what the russians built, we built in the 50s-60s
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersonic_Low_Altitude_Missil...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersonic_Low_Altitude_Missile))

~~~
__m
It says an airframe was never constructed, let alone tested, much like my
perpetual motion machine

------
__m
This got to appeal to the Military Institute of Technology Cadets here on HN

------
perigee58
The US military is looking to outfit Starlink, Kuiper and other commercial LEO
satellite constellations with hypersonic missiles, for an on-demand kill of
any spot on Earth within 90 seconds. Project has been in the works for nearly
two decades but the exponential reduction in cost per kg to LEO has made this
nightmare finally fully viable.

See Space Development Agency under the newly minted Space Force for more
information.

~~~
dirtyid
This seems like the kind of space weaponization that's in every significant
geopolitical players interest to ban. Ditto with conjectures that cost-
effective commercial launches makes SDI satellite missile defense viable. It's
just going to encourage all the players to go all-in on ASAT, park SLBMs near
each others coasts while racing to a constellation of hypersonic missiles of
their own. The last thing US wants to do is encourage China / Russia to hit
any spot in mainland US in 90s. Or anyone for that matter, it's way too
destabilizing for all parties involved.

~~~
NotSammyHagar
yes, it's incredibly destabilizing if you worry in 2 minutes all your bases
and defenses could be destroyed, leading to accidentally launches. In the cold
war it almost happened by accident (launch or we'll lose our ability to
respond!) multiple times. Short time to react just makes it much much worse!

