The second test flight of Lockheed Martin Corp.¡¯s hypersonic missile prototype was marred by the weapon¡¯s failure to transmit in-flight performance data, two people familiar with the results have said, in a setback for U.S. efforts to catch up with China and Russia in a key weapons capability.
The transmission failure and loss of data in the March 13 exercise wasn¡¯t reported in a statement issued by the U.S. Air Force on March 24, which said the test ¡°met several of the objectives and team engineers and testers are collecting data for further analysis.¡±
After being released from a B-52H bomber off the southern coast of California, the warhead successfully separated from its rocket booster and proceeded into flight. After that, however, the data link transmitting in-flight performance information failed, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing non-public information.
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