Raytheon Company and
Northrop Grumman
Corporation announced at
the Paris Air Show that they
have signed a teaming agreement
to develop, produce and integrate
Northrop Grumman’s scramjet
combustors to power Raytheon’s airbreathing
hypersonic weapons.
The teaming agreement uses
the combined capabilities of
both companies to accelerate
development and demonstrate
readiness to produce the next
generation of tactical missile systems.
Hypersonic vehicles operate at
extreme speeds and high altitudes.
Scramjet engines use high vehicle
speed to forcibly compress incoming
air before combustion to enable
sustained flight at hypersonic speeds.
Such speeds reduce flight times
and increase weapon survivability,
effectiveness and flexibility.
A scramjet is similar to a ramjet in
that it uses the forward velocity of
the vehicle to compress incoming air
instead of relying on turbine blades.
However, where a ramjet slows
down the incoming air to subsonic
speeds before using it to burn fuel,
the scramjet keeps the airflow in the
supersonic range. This allows it to
operate at much higher speeds and
altitudes while cutting down on heat
because the air is compressed less.
Northrop Grumman and Raytheon
are working under a $200 million
Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon
Concept, or HAWC, program
contract to deliver an affordable,
effective and producible cruise
missile for DARPA and the U.S. Air
Force.