During a recent “mock up” of a B-1B weapons bay, Air Force weapons developers showed that the platform can carry as many as four hypersonic weapons internally. You can see the merit of that,” Gen. Timothy Ray, Commander, Air Force Global Strike Command, told reporters at the Air Force Association conference. Although hypersonic weapons are already being prototyped and test-fired, manufacturing hypersonics brings substantial technical challenges, many weapons developers explain. Although the B1-B is a bomber with a large airframe, carrying four larger hypersonic weapons internally with an extendable bulkhead brings a significant advantage, Air Force officials said. Meanwhile, flight tests, demonstrations, ground testing and advanced air-vehicle configuration prototyping are all providing data for an Air Force, DARPA and Raytheon hypersonic weapons program called Hypersonic Air-Breathing Weapons Concept, or HAWC.

Source: Fox News October 01, 2019 21:11 UTC