Raytheon and Northrop Grumman awarded US contracts for counter-hypersonic missile

News, US June 27, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

MDA selects Raytheon Missiles and Northrop Grumman to continue developing a first-of-its-kind counter-hypersonic missile

Raytheon Technologies and Northrop Grumman have won U.S. contracts to continue developing first-of-its-kind missiles to intercept hypersonic weapons, the Pentagon said.

Each defense firm was awarded a firm-fixed-price modification to a previously awarded contract for rapid prototyping. Each modification is worth roughly $41 million, bringing the total contract value to around $61 million each, according to June 24 contract announcement by Pentagon.

Missile Defense Agency (MDA) awarded a contract of up to $62 million to Raytheon and up to $60 million to Northrop for each company to continue expanding their programs on hypersonic weapon interceptors.

Counter-hypersonic defense system

Hypersonic weapons refer to weapons that travel faster than Mach 5 (~3,800mph) and have the capability to maneuver during the entire flight, according to US Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.

The speed and maneuverability of hypersonic glide weapons make it difficult for traditional ballistic interceptors to match their moves which is why MDA is focusing on glide phase interceptors to prevent the hypersonic threat at the most vulnerable phase of its flight during the glide.

“An effective counter-hypersonic defense is actually a complete system. It starts from knowing that a threat is going to launch and includes sensing it, ensuring that the interceptor is getting real-time updates on the threat’s location and verifying that we have intercepted the most likely threat in a complex scene — and then if needed, getting the next one and the next one,” according to Tyler St. Onge, Senior Manager for the Launch and Missile Defense Systems division of Northrop Grumman.

^Hype^{rsonic weapons refer to weapons that travel faster than Mach 5 (~3800mph) and have the capability to maneuver during the entire flight, according to US Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance. (Image Credit: Raytheon Graphics)}

“GPI will play a central role in ensuring the United States maintains the most reliable and advanced missile defense systems in the world that are capable of outpacing and defeating evolving missile threats,” said Rich Straka, vice president, launch vehicles, Northrop Grumman.

GPI is designed to intercept hypersonic weapons in the glide phase of flight, offering an additional layer of defense against regional hypersonic missile threats.

“Our GPI is built on proven missile defense technology as its foundation,” said Tay Fitzgerald, president of Strategic Missile Defense at Raytheon Missiles & Defense. “By using digital engineering and leveraging high technology readiness level components and subsystems already in use across Standard Missile and hypersonic programs, we can quickly advance the creation of this new interceptor.”