The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has chosen Boeing to develop a prototype and conduct flight testing of its upcoming Glide Breaker hypersonic interceptor. An interceptor is a weapon designed to destroy other missiles mid-flight before they reach their targets. Glide Breaker is a planned huge leap forward in missile interceptors, as it’s designed to target the highly maneuverable class of weapons known as hypersonic glide vehicles, which are able to execute abrupt “zig-zag” maneuvers as they glide unpowered through Earth’s atmosphere at speeds of Mach 5 and higher. (Mach 1 is the speed of sound — about 767 mph, or 1,234 kph, at sea level.) This combination of speed and maneuverability makes such weapons much harder to defend against than traditional missiles.
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