As the United States strives to keep pace with China and Russia in the hypersonic race, US defense contractor Lockheed Martin has unveiled additional information about its new hypersonic missile, Mako, named after the fastest sharks in the ocean.

Lockheed Martin stated that creating hypersonic missiles requires considerable time, particularly for those compact enough to be housed in the internal bays of stealth aircraft for short-range launches.

“Lockheed Martin’s multi-mission Mako missile is certainly no exception — it’s been in development for seven years. And yes, it’s compact and innovative. It also supported the U.S. Air Force’s first digital acquisition missile program and scored high in maturity,” the contractor said in the release.

If adopted for use by the US Air Force, the air-launched hypersonic Mako Missile will become the world’s first hypersonic weapon that could be fired from the internal weapons bay of the fifth-generation stealth fighter jets: the F-35 and the F-22 Raptor.

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The missile first broke cover in April this year when Lockheed Martin, in collaboration with defense company CoAspire, unveiled it at the Sea Air Space 2024 exposition. At the time, Rick Loy, Senior Program Manager at Lockheed Martin’s Missile and Fire Control division, told reporters that extensive fit-checking had been conducted electronically and physically on various fighter jets and maritime patrol aircraft.

The latest development is significant as it indicates that the missile is being pursued seriously by the contractor at a time when the US trails behind Russia and China in fielding a hypersonic missile. Despite its best efforts, the US military has encountered numerous setbacks in its endeavors to develop and test hypersonic weapons.

The primary US adversary, China, has arguably emerged as the world leader in hypersonic capabilities. At least two hypersonic weapons emerged in the last year: the DF-27 and an air-launched variant of the YJ-21. Meanwhile, Russia has already used two of its hypersonic weapons—the Kinzhal and Zircon—in combat against Ukrainian forces.

In contrast, the US is yet to field a hypersonic weapon. After the USAF abandoned the AGM-183 ARRW (Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon) after a host of testing failures, the service has focused its attention on the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) along with its partner and ally, Australia. As recently reported by EurAsian Times, the missile is set to be tested in Australia on a Super Hornet combat aircraft.

The US Army and Navy are working on their respective hypersonic programs. However, earlier this year, the US Congress watchdog Government Accountability Office revealed that the US Army’s fielding of the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon System (LRHWS) had been delayed to fiscal year 2025.

The US Department of Defense’s (DoD) attempts to bridge the hypersonic gap with China and Russia have encountered a major obstacle: The timeline for deploying the weapon has been repeatedly delayed. Additionally, the GAO pointed out that the DoD is not currently well-prepared to implement rapid response systems.

Amidst all this chaos and the widening hypersonic gap with its adversaries, the Lockheed weapon may offer some hope. With the ARRW, which Lockheed Martin had developed, now out, the contractor may be back in the game again with its air-launched Mako.

Lockheed Martin offered Mako for the US Air Force’s Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW) program. Though it chose not to continue into Phase 2, it says that Mako benefits from the innovations and maturation efforts invested in it as the Air Force’s first fully digital acquisition missile.

What Do We Know About The Mako?

Details revealed by Lockheed on July 22 state: “Named after the fastest shark in the seas, Mako blazes down on time-sensitive targets when every second counts.”

Depending on the mission requirements, it can engage high-value targets at or below hypersonic speeds, move in a high-altitude hypersonic regime, and breach sophisticated air defense systems.

According to the manufacturer, the Mako is an open, multipurpose hypersonic missile that can be used for counterair defense, marine strikes, and other purposes. It can launch at operationally significant ranges that ensure safe standoff distances between aircraft and is deployed from fifth-generation fighters for stand-in strikes.

Mako, weighing 1,300 pounds, manages to fit its multi-mission capability into an airframe of 13 inches across and 13 feet long. It can be integrated into an array of aircraft, including the F-35, F-22, F-15, F-16, F/A-18, P-8, and any aircraft equipped with 30-inch lugs, such as the widely used BRU-32 heavy-duty ejector rack.

When it was first unveiled at the CoAspire booth in April this year, a mockup of the Mako missile was showcased alongside graphics illustrating its integration with the F-35 Lightning II.

At the time, the company official suggested that Mako could potentially be launched from the surface, ground, or even subsurface, indicating its versatility beyond aircraft as a potential launch platform.

Mako is one of the first generation of missiles from Lockheed Martin that was created fully within a digital engineering ecosystem. The life cycle of the weapon is enhanced by a cohesive, model-based enterprise that benefits from best practices in model-based systems engineering.

Because of its open architecture and digital design, Mako allows for the quick addition of mission-specific components like warheads and seekers. This enables customers to update Mako without being tied down by proprietary entanglements, allowing them to stay up to date with new dangers.

Earlier, defense expert Stefano D’Urso pointed out, “The new hypersonic missile is being publicly displayed for the first time since the development began. The F-35 can carry four Mako missiles externally and two internally, one for each weapon bay, making it the first hypersonic weapon compatible with the 5th gen aircraft.”

An important feature of Mako’s design that D’Urso highlighted is that none of the hypersonic weapons currently under development are small enough to fit in the weapon bays of the F-35. Further, it should be noted that the Lockheed Martin Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept is the only alternative that can be carried externally.

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