The U.S. Air Force has awarded a contract to Leidos to develop a new hypersonic air vehicle as part of its secretive Mayhem program. From the information that has been released so far, the experimental design is intended to demonstrate an ability to carry various payloads to support strike and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions, and could lead to an operational platform.

Leidos' new contract, which was awarded by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a "single award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity" deal with a $334 million ceiling, according to the Pentagon's daily contracting notice. The first details about Mayhem emerged in 2020, which linked the program to the separate development of advanced high-speed jet engines. Last year, The War Zone was the first to report that new information had emerged confirming that both strike and ISR were among the expected mission sets for this air vehicle under what had become formally named the Hypersonic Multi-mission ISR and Strike project.

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