America's New Weapon Could Destroy Russia and China

The United States is developing a new generation of weapons so advanced they could shift the balance of power against rivals like Russia and China in a matter of seconds. From the Dark Eagle hypersonic missile traveling at over 3,800 miles per hour with a 1,700-mile range to the Quick Sink bomb that snaps a warship in half from below in under 40 seconds, these machines are redrawing the limits of modern combat. The Morpheus X Rotor by Lockheed Martin knocks out swarms of 50 or more drones with high-powered microwaves for little more than the cost of recharging its batteries, while the Helios laser aboard the USS Preble fires 60-kilowatt beams of concentrated energy that never run out of ammunition as long as the ship has power. The countdown also covers the MACS Multi-Artillery Cannon System by BAE Systems, a 6.1-inch cannon firing hypervelocity projectiles up to 50 miles with real-time in-flight steering corrections born from a canceled Navy railgun program. The XQ-58A Valkyrie by Kratos Defense is a low-cost autonomous loyal wingman jet that could field 25 drones for the price of a single 100-million-dollar fighter, and the X-68A Longshot developed by DARPA and General Atomics turns cargo planes into flying drone factories that launch autonomous combat drones deep behind enemy lines. At number one, the Sea Hunter by Leidos is a fully autonomous 132-foot warship that hunts submarines for up to 70 days straight with zero crew on board, running on approximately $20,000 a day compared to a manned destroyer's $700,000. Each weapon represents a completely new way of thinking about warfare, and the technological gap between the United States and its rivals is widening fast.