Hypersonics program between U.S. & Australia moves forward
NewsSeptember 07, 2021
WASHINGTON. The U.S. Air Force (USAF) made progress on the joint U.S.-Australia effort to develop an air-breathing hypersonic cruise missile, with the USAF issuing round-two contract options to Boeing and Lockheed Martin as the next step of the so-called Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (SCIFiRE), and an additional separate contract with Raytheon.
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) announcement of the new contracts states that the SCIFiRE project intends to develop and improve “a solid-rocket boosted, air-breathing, hypersonic conventional cruise missile, air-launched from existing fighter/bomber aircraft, through the completion of a preliminary design review.”
Under the terms of this most recent second round of contracts -- with the Boeing award worth $39.7 million and the Lockheed Martin award worth $27.2 million -- the USAF expects that Boeing and Lockheed will continue work through August 2022 to carry the program through Phase 1 Preliminary Design Review. The $27.9 million Raytheon accord is expected to run through September 2022.
Click here to read additional information on the SCIFiRE program.
