The test by DARPA’s Hypersonic Air-breathings Weapon Concept is a key step on path to fielding a follow-on hypersonic cruise missile by the U.S. and Australian air forces later in this decade. 

Astraius wants to use a Boeing C-17 airlifter to conduct horizontal launch of its Hera II two-stage launch vehicle, which is an adaptation of the Hera target missile used by the U.S. Defense Department to test missile defense systems.

The Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aerial System Office and the U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office recently completed a second demonstration of systems that can help counter small drones as the military faces a sense of urgency to stop this threat.

Los Angeles-area Karman Missile & Space Systems, a budding mid-tier supplier to defense primes, has bought Systima Technologies, which is claimed to be one of the few companies worldwide that can integrate energetic and mechanical systems into the structural design of space or hypersonic systems.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly for a $1 billion bill to replenish Iron Dome interceptors for Israel on Sept. 23, one day after a group of lawmakers stripped the measure from another spending bill.

U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall is not satisfied with progress on testing hypersonic weapons and said the service has not clearly determined what a role for the weapons would be.

The U.S. Air Force this December will conduct a live demonstration of palletized cruise missiles from the back of cargo aircraft, after multiple tests on aircraft including C-17s and EC-130s.

Paris has recalled its ambassadors from Australia and the U.S. and canceled defense talks with the UK following Canberra’s decision to halt a multi-billion euro submarine procurement from France in favor of a nuclear submarine buy with the U.S. and UK.