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The Pentagon\u2019s Research and engineering chief, Michael Griffin, said he supports new kinds of missile defense systems. But he told us recently that \u201cspace-based hypersonic defense is not a practical approach.\u201d What do you think of that?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ll offer this: The space-based layer provides awareness and early warning. A lot of times people underestimate the importance of awareness of what\u2019s happening and the early warning to cue the defensive systems to an event. That has historically been the role of space-based missile defense. I think it has application to hypersonics even still. The interceptors we have \u2014 PAC-3, THAAD \u2014 we\u2019re doing studies to evaluate what their capabilities would be against a hypersonic attack. Some capabilities can be applied to a hypersonic [attack] while an ultimate capability can be developed. [So we\u2019re evaluating] what we can do with the systems we have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What place will hypersonic weapons have in the future stockpile?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t want to speak for the department on what requirements might be, but my belief is that the requirements for this type of system are driven by the target set, and the number of targets, similar to strategic systems. It\u2019s not going to be something where we\u2019re producing thousands a year, like Hellfires. It\u2019s going to be limited by what\u2019s practically required to defeat the target set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is anything else happening that you want to share?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
We announced that we\u2019re partnering with Rafael in Israel for a precision weapons capability that operates separate from GPS. Israel is in a rough neighborhood. They can\u2019t depend on GPS, so they developed SPICE [Smart, Precise Impact and Cost-Effective missile guidance kits]. They\u2019ve integrated SPICE on F-16s, [and] are going to [integrate them] on the F-35.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As hypersonics rapidly gain traction in the U.S. Department of Defense, Lockheed Martin has racked up some notable wins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":129,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,29,162,12,13,36,129,99,30],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2572],"class_list":["post-39315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-digital-show-dailies","category-digital-show-daily","category-industry","category-interviews","category-newsletters","category-space-missile-defense","category-smd","category-smr"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"OYVGO4HEXFDLJFEX327RYHSMPY","arc_canonical_url":"\/smr\/space-missile-defense\/2018\/07\/27\/5-questions-with-lockheeds-missiles-chief\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n