A crucial step toward bridging the hypersonic weapons gap with global competitors in Russia, the new hypersonic missile from Lockheed Martin exceeds Mach 5 and is a multi-mission Mako, able to target any land or sea assets and carried on a variety of U.S. aircraft, including the F-35, F-22, and F/A-18, among others.
The missile’s extreme in-flight maneuverability and high speed present problems for interception and its production involves digital engineering and additive manufacturing to reduce costs and increase production.
The Lockheed Martin Mako missile is small enough to fit in the weapons bay of an F-35 Lightning II fifth-generation warplane and can be adapted to fit nearly any U.S. airframe-from the F-22 Raptor to the F/A-18 Super Hornet-and with it, this renewed seriousness by America regarding hypersonic weapons.
One of the Mako system’s signature capabilities has been its extreme maneuverability while in flight, which would only make it even harder for the respective defensive systems to intercept and destroy the missile before it could cause its intended damage. A missile multi-mission set allows the missile to threaten both land and sea, making the missile a multifunctional product for the U.S. armed forces.
Technologically, the Mako missile marks a necessary step in the right direction. If Lockheed can produce its Mako system in mass quantity, then this will serve as another means of dissolving any sort of Chinese military advantage in the Indo-Pacific. The modular design of this missile supports the rapid integration of mission-specific elements like warheads and seekers, embracing this notion of an open system architecture applied to hypersonic missiles.
Such a development is the United Arab Emirates’ current consideration of whether to lodge an FMS request to the United States to obtain the Mako missile. The talks are symptomatic of the insistent attempt of the UAE to fortify its defense capacity in a zone already primed with geopolitical tensions, much of which target Iran.
The status of these talks indicates that the UAE is at a nascent stage in contemplating an FMS request and would are certain prerequisites that have to qualify before it can be submitted. Key is the stand from the Pentagon whose nod is important, going by the fact that the technology of the hypersonic missile involved is advanced in nature.
With a strategy aimed at holding on to needed technological capabilities for the defense of critical infrastructure against rising threats, incurring heavy investments in the Mako hypersonic missile by the UAE would align well with the strategic goal of having a more self-sufficient defense industry.
The UAE has, in turn, been aligned with the United States in several FMS agreements. Total sales over the last ten years have gone above $29 billion. Some of the major defense systems acquired have included the THAAD missile defense system, Patriot missile systems, F-16 Desert Falcon fighters, and Apache helicopters, among more precision-guided munitions.
On the international playing field, the UAE has balanced its relations with major world powers, from the United States on which to rely. Having emerged as a crucial ally with the U.S. always in defense and security matters. This is intended to ensure the preservation of its security and economic interests within the growing multipolarity context.
Lockheed Martin’s hypersonic Mako was developed through the US Air Force’s SiAW, aimed at solving strategic problems across the Pacific. The missile has been demonstrated for internal and external carriage over a wide range of platforms.