U.S. Opens Fast-Tracked Path For Hypersonic Mass Production
With the most advanced and expensive hypersonic missiles still waiting to be declared fully operational, the U.S. military is opening a second acquisition track for affordable and mass-producible missiles.
The Multi-service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Accelerator (MACH-XL) program will select prototypes for air-to-air, air-to-ground, ground-to-ground and ground-to-air missiles that have a path to mass production at an affordable price, according to briefing slides from a Jan. 8 webinar hosted by program officials for suppliers.
The program creates a path for a group of new entrants into the hypersonic missile business to validate their designs in flight test and potentially win production contracts.
Castelion and Kratos Defense have proposed developing offensive missiles with hypersonic glide vehicles, explicitly offering the Pentagon a new option at a lower price point than the U.S. Army鈥檚 Lockheed Martin Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW, also known as Dark Eagle) and the U.S. Navy鈥檚 identical Conventional Prompt Strike missiles. LRHW is expected to enter service a year late early this year.
Other companies, such as Australia-based Hypersonix, have proposed scramjet-powered hypersonic cruise missiles.
It was not immediately clear what options are available for near-hypersonic and hypersonic air-to-air and ground-to-air missiles.
The MACH-XL program offers a fast-tracked Other Transaction agreement process for companies to demonstrate prototype systems. The process is managed by the S2MARTS and overseen by Naval Surface Warfare Center-Crane. The organizers already fielded a handful of new hypersonic systems to be used as testbeds through the MACH-TB program, including the Kratos pairing of the Zeus booster and Erinyes hypersonic glider.