Gen. Mark Milley, chief of staff at the U.S. Army, said at a recent House defense appropriations subcommittee hearing the service branch plans to invest in the research and development of long-range weapons technology, National Defense Magazine reported Monday.
“A subset of that is the hypersonics piece,†Milley told lawmakers.
“I believe we will be able to test and then acquire and procure long-range precision weapons that go significantly longer in range than any existing artillery system on the Earth today.â€
The Army awarded General Atomics a three-year contract to help the service branch develop, integrate and test electromagnetic railgun.
Railgun projectiles are designed to travel at a speed of at least 3,800 miles per hour, the report noted.