Hypersonic weapons travel more than five times the speed of sound and can evade traditional missile defense systems.

It's no wonder why Russia, China and the United States all want them as part of their military arsenals.



It's also an arms race among American defense contractors. Currently, the Pentagon has nearly a dozen programs tasked with developing and defending against the new breed of weapons. In 2019, the Pentagon awarded two multibillion dollar hypersonic weapons contracts to Lockheed Martin.

As the world's major powers fight to develop these new weapons, they'll need new ways to defend against them as well. And that's not cheap.

Watch the video above to find out more about the new hypersonic arms race.

