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The prime contractor has been awarded a contract by the US Space Force to develop a prototype missile track custody system for the Space Force’s first medium-Earth orbit missile tracking system.
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Under the contract, Raytheon Intelligence & Space will develop and deliver a space vehicle that hosts a missile tracking mission payload, with ground-based command-and-control and mission-data processing elements.
According to Raytheon, the ground system will utilise the Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution Mission Data Processing Application Framework, which processes data including Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) space vehicle data from the Space-Based Infrared System and future Next-Generation OPIR constellation.
The mission payload passed critical design review in November 2022 and will be integrated onto an LM400 satellite bus. According to the prime, the LM400 boasts rapid production speed, reduced costs and has SmartSat to enable it to adapt to rapidly changing mission needs.
“This is an advanced solution to counter emerging missile threats facing our country,” Roger Cole, executive director, Strategic Systems programs, Raytheon Intelligence & Space, said.
“From its MEO perch, our system will enable Space Force to accurately detect and track adversarial hypersonic weapons with precision accuracy.”
In September, the US Air Force selected Raytheon Missiles & Defense and Northrop Grumman to develop the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM).
The project forms part of a collaboration with the Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (SCIFiRE) — a joint initiative between the United States and Australia.
As part of the project, the primes have been tasked with delivering “operationally ready” HACM missiles, billed as an air-breathing, scramjet-powered munition.
Scramjet engines are designed to leverage high vehicle speed to “forcibly compress” incoming air before combustion.
This is tipped to enable sustained flight at hypersonic speeds of Mach 5 or greater, potentially evading defensive systems.
“Raytheon Missiles & Defense continues to be at the forefront of hypersonic weapon and air-breathing technology development,” Wes Kremer, president of Raytheon Missiles & Defense, said.
“With advanced threats emerging around the globe, the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile will provide our warfighters a much-needed capability.”
Mary Petryszyn, corporate vice president and president, Northrop Grumman Defense Systems, said HACM would create a new class of strategically important weapons.
“Our scramjet propulsion technology is ushering in a new era for faster, more survivable and highly capable weapons,” she said.
This latest initiative builds on three years of collaboration between Northrop Grumman and Raytheon Technologies on the development, production and integration of Northrop Grumman’s scramjet engines onto Raytheon’s air-breathing hypersonic weapons.
In July, the primes completed the second flight test of the scramjet-powered Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) in cooperation with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the US Air Force.
Drawing from results of the first flight test, the exercise aimed to mature the operationally relevant weapon concept design.
HAWC was released from an aircraft and accelerated to hypersonic speeds leveraging the scramjet engine, with the vehicle flying a trajectory that engineers designed to intentionally stress the weapon concept and explore its limits.
The test reportedly achieved all primary and secondary objectives, which included demonstrating tactical range capabilities.
[Related: Raytheon, Northrop Grumman advance hypersonic missile development]
