The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is seeking industry concepts for a next-generation hypersonic cruise missile intended to deliver a major increase in range, speed and altitude while penetrating advanced air defenses. In a request for information published Aug. 7, DARPA outlined a potential new program that could eventually produce and test a full-scale demonstrator. Breaking Defense reported on the agency’s request for information.
DARPA is not framing the effort as an incremental upgrade to existing designs. The notice says the agency wants a “revolutionary leap” in performance and seeks concepts that could help the United States strike advanced threats in highly contested environments. It also calls for manufacturing considerations to be built into the program from the beginning, with a path from technology demonstration to affordable, high-rate production.
The proposed weapon would likely use an air-breathing propulsion architecture rather than a boost-glide system. Hypersonic weapons generally travel faster than Mach 5 and can maneuver during flight. Boost-glide weapons use a rocket booster to accelerate a glide vehicle, which then reenters the atmosphere and travels toward its target. Air-breathing systems operate within the atmosphere and commonly fly at lower altitudes, where their flight profile can complicate detection.
DARPA’s concept is described as similar in broad form to the Air Force’s Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile. Air-breathing cruise missiles can be smaller than boost-glide weapons, giving them potential launch flexibility across more aircraft and other platforms. The notice leaves the launch arrangement open, listing possibilities that include external carriage on bombers, internal carriage, ground launch and palletized deployment.
The agency’s request reflects dissatisfaction with what it describes as the current pace of improvement. Existing air-breathing concepts using scramjet engines, the notice says, often produce predictable gains in individual performance measures rather than the disruptive capabilities expected for future conflicts. It also identifies legacy manufacturing methods as too expensive and complex to support production at scale. A recent Atlantic Council study, cited by Breaking Defense, assessed the Pentagon as behind China and Russia in fielding hypersonic weapons.
DARPA has organized its request around three areas. The first covers the missile’s overall architecture and integration, including its size, employment concept and launch method. The second seeks high-risk technologies for propulsion and the vehicle itself, including high-energy-density fuels and high-temperature materials capable of enduring hypersonic conditions. The notice also invites concepts that depart substantially from current subsystem designs rather than refining existing components.
The first focus area would assess the missile at the system level, including how advances in individual components could combine into a new operational concept. The possible form factors have implications for which aircraft or other platforms could carry the weapon. DARPA’s list of options ranges from a large missile carried externally by bombers to a smaller version carried internally, as well as ground-launched and palletized configurations.
The second focus area addresses the technologies needed to support those concepts. In addition to propulsion and fuels, DARPA identifies materials that can withstand the high temperatures and demanding conditions associated with hypersonic flight. The agency is seeking “high-risk, high-reward technologies” rather than straightforward improvements to existing systems.
The third area involves testing and evaluation. DARPA is seeking ways to accelerate development through tools such as autonomous telemetry, advanced data assimilation and new range-safety architectures. The agency says these capabilities could improve the efficiency of executing a future program, not simply the performance of the missile in flight.
The notice says a competitive solicitation may follow, while describing the next-generation hypersonic cruise missile as a potential new DARPA program. Responses are intended to help determine whether such a program is viable. DARPA plans an industry day in September and has encouraged nontraditional defense companies to participate. Responses to the request for information are due Oct. 6.