Naomi Cooper
The Defense Innovation Unit has selected Australian aerospace company Hypersonix Launch Systems and California-based space launch services provider Fenix Space to prototype a suite of hypersonic weapon test systems for the Department of Defense.
Under the Hypersonic and High-Cadence Airborne Testing Capabilities program, Hypersonix Launch Systems will develop an airborne testing vehicle capable of flying non-ballistic flight patterns at speeds greater than Mach 5 while operating within a “representative environment,” DIU said Thursday.
Fenix Space will offer its reusable tow-launch platform designed to enable DOD to conduct low-cost high-cadence test flights.
DOD aims to use the resulting technologies to perform high-cadence long-endurance testing of future hypersonic platforms and components.
DIU received more than 62 bids for the HyCAT initiative and expects testing to take place within 12 to 18 months.
