The contract provides that the American army will receive additional equipment over the next five years.
Ministry of Defense The United States signed a contract with defense giant Lockheed Martin for $756 million to supply the Dark Eagle hypersonic missile complex (LRHW) battery. The press service of the manufacturer reports this.
The new contract provides that the US Army will receive additional equipment, the battery itself, as well as the necessary support for the operation of systems and software. LRHW — it is a complex of long-range hypersonic missiles with the possibility of launching from land-based mobile platforms.
The contract must be completed in 5 years. Within its limits, four mobile launchers with two missiles each and control points will be manufactured. However, it is worth noting that the Dark Eagle complex has never fired. The last such attempt was in November 2023, but then everything failed at the stage of preparation for launch.
The launcher itself was functioning properly, in regular mode. It is possible that this is why the Pentagon could purchase a second battery so that the launchers would be in stock, and the missiles would be refined over time.
As noted by the manufacturer, the first Dark Eagle battery arrived in 2021. Starters were also manufactured for two years. It is currently known that the speed of the missile will be Mach 4.9 with a firing range of up to 3100 km.