A Lockheed Martin program has become the first casualty in the U.S. Defense Department’s race to deploy a diverse portfolio of hypersonic missiles as soon as possible.
Aerojet Rocketdyne, a rocket motor and scramjet propulsion company, will deliver “enabling technologies” for a Northrop Grumman-designed hypersonic interceptor missile in development by DARPA, the company announced Feb. 10.
The Pentagon will launch a Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) program and build out its command-and-control system as part of a budget request that seeks $20.3 billion for “Missile Defeat and Defense activities.”
The Trump administration’s fiscal 2021 defense budget request is “flat” for the Pentagon but doubles down on space, hypersonic and cyber capabilities against China, Russia and others and would make recent changes to the national security structure “irreversible,” officials said Feb 10.
The U.S. Navy has moved to greatly expand the role of P-8A maritime patrol aircraft by proposing to integrate several new types of missiles, bombs, mines and advanced decoys.
Northrop Grumman is already banking on winning the U.S. military’s contract for providing the next generation of nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles.