Lockheed Martin has won $2.5 billion worth of contracts in the past year for hypersonic missiles, weapons at the heart of a conventional arms race between the U.S., China, and Russia that the military may seek to adapt for nuclear weapons.

If the military takes that step, the Bethesda, Md.-based defense company might have a big advantage on work that could be valued at as much as $20 billion, said Roman Schweizer, an analyst with Cowen Washington Research Group, which has tracked federal policy for the past four decades.