The United States Missile Defense Agency (MDA) plans to test its ability to track and destroy a hypersonic weapon as it “flies up the East Coast” of the United States in a live 2027 demonstration.
The MDA will conduct the test on a maneuvering hypersonic glide vehicle as part of Project Maverick, which seeks to prove that a defensive system can defeat hypersonic threats, according to DefenseScoop. Hypersonic weapons, which can travel at Mach 5 (about five times the speed of sound or greater). Many nations are developing hypersonic weapons, including the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Liberation Army, Russia, and the U.S.
“This initiative will deliver a near-term hypersonic defense capability demonstration on the U.S. East Coast, proving our ability to track and engage advanced hypersonic glide vehicles by fusing data from elevated sensors,” U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Heath Collins, the MDA director, said in written testimony to the U.S. House Armed Services Committee (HASC) in April 2026.
The MDA’s budget documents do not say if the test will involve kinetic destruction or the systems that will be used, but Collins told the HASC that the effort will demonstrate capabilities “across the kill chain,” according to DefenseScoop.
The goal is to create a system capable of countering hypersonic weapons in the near term while a more advanced defense system is being developed. This demonstration will assist in meeting that goal while also providing information critical to future layered defense systems.
The MDA is funding Project Maverick under its Low-Cost Defeat initiative, which seeks to develop affordable technologies against hypersonic and other threats, according to DefenseScoop. The MDA would like to confirm in 2027 that one of those programs, the Low-Cost Interceptor initiative, can build such a weapon in high numbers and at low cost. If confirmed, the MDA would follow up by testing a prototype in 2028, DefenseScoop reported.
In 2024, Collins said the MDA was working to “think creatively and bring capability sooner” to defend against the hypersonic threat, adding that the capability would likely not be a new weapon but something that already exists and can be repurposed.
MDA’s main program to defend against hypersonics is the Glide Phase Interceptor, a ship-launched missile that will be able to destroy incoming hypersonic glide vehicles while they are maneuvering through the atmosphere, according to DefenseScoop. Collins said that program is on track for a 2031 delivery.
Hypersonic glide vehicles are rocket-launched weapons that glide to their targets and use atmospheric forces to maneuver. Their combination of high speed and maneuverability makes the weapons particularly difficult to intercept using conventional defenses.
The drive to rapidly develop counter-hypersonic weapons is part of the broader Department of War effort to build the Golden Dome for America’s missile defense shield, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine. The system is planned as a layered network of sensors, missile interceptors, and command and control systems.