Raytheon, in partnership with Northrop Grumman Corporation, has secured a follow-on contract
from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to advance air-breathing hypersonic
systems.
This agreement will enable the development and flight testing of additional Hypersonic
Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) vehicles, offering expanded capabilities and enhanced
system validation.
This is crucial development.
In this video, Defense Updates reports on Raytheon & Northrop Grumman getting additional
contract for hypersonic weapons development.
Let's get into the details.
Weapons that exceed the speed of Mach 5 that is 5 times the speed of sound, are called
Hypersonic Weapons.
Hypersonic weapons are being persuaded by several advanced militaries since their speed
and ability to fly in unpredictable paths make them almost impossible to defend against
with the most current air defense systems.
There are several ways of developing Hypersonic Weapons
The first is through the use of ALBM or Air-Launched Ballistic missile.
As the name suggests, this kind of missile is ballistic in nature but is launched from
air, unlike traditional ballistic missiles which are launched from land or sea-based
platforms.
The second is using HGV or Hypersonic Glide Vehicle.
In this method, the system is launched to extremely high altitudes using a Ballistic
Missile where it skips across the Earth’s upper atmosphere.
The vehicle then separates from the carrier and glides back to the earth towards its intended
target attaining hypersonic speed.
The third is using a Scramjet engine.
The scramjet is an innovation on the Ramjet.
Ramjet engines can power flight to supersonic speeds but scramjet can enable the missiles
to reach hypersonic speeds.
The scramjet engine can power a hypersonic cruise missile.
HAWC uses this approach.
Raytheon and Northrop Grumman have been strategic partners since 2013 and formalized their collaboration
in 2019 to jointly develop, produce, and integrate Northrop Grumman’s scramjet engines into
Raytheon’s air-breathing hypersonic weapons.
Lockheed Martin was the other participant.
The first successful flight was in September 2021.
Further testing was carried out in mid-March 2022 but was kept secret at the time to avoid
the impression of escalation against Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The existence of the test was revealed in early April 2022.
On 18 July 2022, the third successful flight test of the HAWC was reported by DARPA.
The vehicle flew faster than Mach 5.
The HAWC program reached a crucial point with Lockheed Martin's design passing the final
flight test in January 2023.
The flight tests of several operational prototype systems for the HAWC have successfully validated
the digital engineering concepts used for the designs.
Principal Director for Hypersonics Mike White stated that HAWC would be smaller than hypersonic
glide vehicles and could therefore launch from a wider range of platforms.
White additionally noted that HAWC could integrate seekers more easily.
Technology developed for the HAWC demonstrator has influenced the design of the Hypersonic
Attack Cruise Missile (HACM), a U.S. Air Force Program of Record to create a scramjet-powered
hypersonic missile it could deploy as an operational weapon.
The advancements will directly benefit HACM, as the airframe and engine designs are closely
aligned.
The range of the missile will be 560 km or 350 mi.
Colin Whelan, president of Advanced Technology for Raytheon said,
"We applied learnings from each successful HAWC flight test to ensure that it is the
most sophisticated system of its kind.
Continuing this important program will expand our knowledge of hypersonic flight and allow
us to deliver the critical capability our warfighters need”
Dan Olson, general manager and vice president of weapons systems, Northrop Grumman said,
"The HAWC follow-on contract serves as an engine pathfinder program in our new production-ready
Hypersonics Capability Center in Elkton, Maryland.
Our factory of the future will seamlessly transition our validated propulsion system
design into an operationally ready system to support further flight testing”
Russia has already fielded Avangard and Kinzhal whereas China has deployed DF-ZF and YJ-21.
Kinzhal has actually been used in the Ukraine - Russia conflict.
For some time, the American military was undecided when it comes to developing and deploying
hypersonic weapons.
This led to the U.S. military lagging in this technology.
But there is consensus now and as stated by US DoD leaders, hypersonic weapons are a national
imperative.
Michael E. White Principal Director for Hypersonics had said the adversaries have increasingly
focused on systems that dramatically compress the timelines and the timescale of a tactical
battlefield.
He indicated that the American portfolio of subsonic and supersonic weapons will be found
wanting in a battle.
He had stated that the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has developed the Hypersonics
Modernization Strategy that accelerates the development and delivery of transformational
warfighting capabilities based on hypersonic systems.
It seems things are finally progressing in the correct direction.