The most disruptive battlefield technology since the advent of stealth may be just a few years away, and the U.S. is locked in a race with Russia and China to develop it first. XAutoplay: On | Off

Hypersonic weapons are being designed to travel at five times the speed of sound, rendering their targets nearly defenseless and promising to rewrite battle plans around the world.

“We still want to have stealth capabilities, but I would like to argue that hypersonics give you next-level capabilities,” said Mark Lewis, chair of the Institute for Defense Analyses’ Science and Technology Policy Institute.

The Pentagon awarded contracts last year for hypersonic test vehicles, and prototypes are expected in 2020. …