Operational Fires is a ground-launched system that will “quickly and accurately strike critical, time-sensitive targets while penetrating modern enemy air defenses.” DARPA has applied for and received $45 million in fiscal year 2022 for OpFires.
One of Lockheed Martin’s concepts for the DARPA weapon is to use an exciting High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launcher, like the ones sent to Ukraine, to launch the weapon.
These tests come after a failed test flight on June 29 of another type of hypersonic weapon, the Common Hypersonic Glide Body, at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii.
Defense contractors hope to capitalize on the shift to hypersonic weapons not only by building them, but also by developing new detection and destruction mechanisms.
Gunmakers like Lockheed, Northrop Grumman Corp and Raytheon Technologies Corp have all touted their hypersonic weapons programs to investors as the world’s focus shifted to the new arms race for an emerging class of weapons.