What is a Mako Missile?

About Mako Missile:

• It is an air-launched hypersonic multi-mission missile.
• It was developed by Lockheed Martin, an American aerospace and defense manufacturer.
• It will be 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.
• It can be used for a wide range of missions, including targets at sea, in the air, and on land.
• Features:
  • Named after the fastest shark in the seas, Mako blazes down on time-sensitive targets, and it penetrates advanced air-defense systems to engage these high-value targets at or below hypersonic speeds, depending on mission requirements.
  • It can achieve speeds over Mach 5 with high maneuverability, making it difficult to intercept.
  • It represents one of Lockheed Martin’s first generation of missiles designed within an entirely “digital engineering ecosystem”.
  • It weighs close to 590 kg with a diameter of 13 inches and an approximate length of 4 meters.

What are Hypersonic Missiles?

• A hypersonic missile is a weapon system which flies at least at the speed of Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound)and is manoeuvrable.
• These missiles are extremely fast and far harder for surface-to-air missile defence systems to target.