US Air Force Chooses Raytheon and Northrop Grumman for Groundbreaking Hypersonic Missile Development
Raytheon Missiles & Defense, a part of Raytheon Technologies, in collaboration with Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC), has been chosen to manufacture the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile for the U.S. Air Force (USAF). HACM represents a groundbreaking weapon conceived alongside the Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (SCIFiRE), a bilateral initiative between the U.S. and Australia.
According to this agreement, the Raytheon Missiles & Defense and Northrop Grumman consortium will supply fully operational missiles to the USAF.
“Raytheon Missiles & Defense remains at the leading edge of hypersonic weaponry and air-breathing technology advancements,” stated Wes Kremer, president of Raytheon Missiles & Defense. “With emerging advanced threats worldwide, the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile will furnish our military with a crucial capability.”
The Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile is an air-breathing munition powered by scramjet technology. Scramjet engines exploit high speeds to compress incoming air for combustion, facilitating sustained travel at hypersonic velocities – exceeding Mach 5. By achieving such speeds, hypersonic arms like HACM can strike their targets faster than traditional missiles, allowing them to potentially bypass defensive measures.
“The Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile inaugurates a new category of strategically vital weaponry for the U.S. military,” noted Mary Petryszyn, corporate vice president and head of Northrop Grumman Defense Systems. “Our scramjet propulsion technology is paving the way for more rapid, survivable, and highly effective weapons.”
Raytheon Technologies and Northrop Grumman have been collaborating since 2019 to design, produce, and integrate Northrop Grumman’s advanced scramjet engines into Raytheon’s air-breathing hypersonic munitions. Their synergistic efforts empower both firms to manufacture air-breathing hypersonic systems, marking the evolution of next-generation tactical missile technologies.
