Brenda Marie Rivers
Northrop Grumman and Raytheon have agreed to extend joint technology integration activities to support the U.S. Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept program.
The teaming agreement requires Northrop to integrate its scramjet combustors with Raytheon’s air-breathing hypersonic missile as part of the $200M HAWC contract with the Air Force and DARPA, Northrop said Tuesday.
Mike Kahn, vice president and general manager of Northrop’s defense systems arm, said the company intends to apply its propulsion, warhead and fuze development experience to the partnership.
“Together with Raytheon, we intend to make great strides toward improving our nation’s high-speed weapon systems, which are critical to enhancing our warfighters’ capabilities for greater standoff and quicker time to target,†Kahn added.
Thomas Bussing, vice president of Raytheon’s advanced missile systems business, said the alliance will combine tactical missile and scramjet engineering expertise from the two companies.
Northrop’s scramjet engines are designed to compress air prior to combustion in order to enable flight at hypersonic speeds.
DARPA’s Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept program intends to develop technology with the eventual aim of creating an air-launched, hypersonic cruise missile.
