U.S. Missile Defense Agency

The selection by MDA eliminates Leidos and Raytheon from the competition to demonstrate the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS).

Raytheon will start building the first pieces of a Microwave Technology Testbed as a new defense against hypersonic missiles under a $9.79 million

The idea of blasting a boost-phase ballistic weapon out of the sky with a high-energy laser mounted on an aircraft has always been ambitious, and it remains so after 20 years of failed attempts.

The U.S. Defense Department chose not to fund a critical new space-based sensor for hypersonic defense, but lawmakers have stepped in to rescue the

MDA will accept responses from May 1 through July 31, according to a notice about the request for proposals. Two prime contracts are expected by late fall or early winter.

A series of requests for information to industry since last fall has generated proposals to accelerate the current, 10-year schedule.

A year of change is in store for the military organizations tasked with intercepting missiles launched from another continent. In the U.S., the $160