LE BOURGET—There is now a two-horse race to develop a European hypersonic defense interceptor after MBDA entered the fray with its proposed Aquila interceptor.

MBDA—along with 19 partners and 30 subcontractors from 14 European countries—will develop the Aquila concept for the European Defense Fund (EDF)-supported Hypersonic Defense Interceptor Study (HYDIS²) project.

The missile manufacturer’s HYDIS² proposal is being awarded funding of €80 million ($87.5 million) without a call for proposals in the EDF's 2023 work program. MBDA officials expect to be on contract with European defense materiel agency OCCAR by year's end. Partners on the project include MBDA in France, Germany, Italy and Spain; France’s Roxel and ArianeGroup; Germany’s Bayern-Chemie and OHB; Italy’s Avio Aero; and the Netherlands’ GKN Fokker.

HYDIS² is set to compete with the Spanish-led HYDEF project. This is headed up by Sistemas de Misiles de España (Spanish Missile Systems)—a conglomerate of several Spanish defense companies—and includes Germany’s Diehl Defense and Nordic company Nammo.

Both HYDEF and HYDIS² are a component of the notional European Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) project Twister—short for Timely Warning and Interception with Space-based TheatER. Twister is a multinational project aimed at developing a European hypersonic defense system.

The European Commission opted to double source on the interceptor development because there was no counter-hypersonic missile capability available in Europe.

HYDIS² is entering the concept phase with “three multistage interceptor architectures,” Rainer Stockhammer, MBDA’s team leader for Twister, tells journalists on the second day of the Paris Air Show here. Two of the architectures to be studied are three-stage, one of which is air-breathing—possibly a ramjet like the Meteor air-to-air missile. The second is a conventional rocket-powered missile with a large booster, while the third is a two-stage weapon with booster. The program will examine and select one of these options for further development at the end of the study.

Some of the elements on the project are at a technology readiness level of one and need to be matured during the work.

“We need to manage to come to a certain technology readiness level to put our nations in a position to start development in three years,” Stockhammer adds.

The HYDIS² unveiling emerges the day after Israel’s Rafael revealed details of its own two-stage hypersonic interceptor development, called Sky Sonic. It is being developed under the company’s own research and development funding. Rafael expects to secure contracts for development in the coming months.

The hypersonic interceptor is only part of the European effort to develop the Twister system. The EDF is also funding a project called Odin's Eye, backing the initial development of an autonomous European early-warning capability supporting defense against ballistic missiles and hypersonic threats. The 24-month, €7.8 million study is being led by German satellite firm OHB.

Selection of one of the two missiles is expected to follow after the studies. The second phase of development would then be launched and partly funded by the EDF, potentially enabling the first prototype missiles to be ready by 2030. But the cost of a potential hypersonic system could be in the billions, MBDA CEO Eric Beranger warned at the company’s March press conference in Paris.