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The U.S. Army has picked at least three companies to start competing for the Affordable High Speed Strike (AHSS) missile program.
In September, Castelion, Kratos and Raytheon received small contracts worth $250,000 each or less, according to the Aviation & Missile Technology Consortium’s awards page on its website.
The consortium names the AHSS product from Castelion as the “Leviathan Ground-Launched Hypersonic Anti-Surface Missile.” The Kratos and Raytheon proposals are named only as the “AHSS.”
The Army released a request for white papers to industry in May for the missile. A conceptual rendering shown at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in August revealed that the Army is considering options with air-breathing and solid rocket motor propulsion systems.
The AHSS is being positioned as a low-cost alternative to the 3,000-km (1,864.1-mi.)-range Long Range Hypersonic Weapon.
“AHSS is not intended to duplicate our existing long-range precision fires capabilities. Rather, it is being explored as part of a high-low mix that balances range, speed, lethality, survivability, capacity, and cost,” the Army told Aviation Week in an emailed response to questions last month.
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