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US Develops Hypersonic Missile With Scramjet Engines That Can Reach Mach 5. The Mayhem Project Aims to Expand the Country’s Offensive Capacity to Strike Long-Range Targets.
Hypersonic Missile: The leading US security solutions provider, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, recently stated that its Defense Rocket Systems and Services (DRSS) Division, which operates alongside Kratos’ Unmanned Systems Division, has received a contract from Leidos to assist in the Attack Program, also known as Chaos and the Expendable Hypersonic Multi-Mission ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance).
Hypersonic Missile Will Enhance US Long-Range Offensive Capability
The Mayhem Project was created to develop a hypersonic air-breathing system, capable of conducting strike and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, and has a greater payload capacity than the AGM-183A (ARRW), a quick response air-launched weapon. The hypersonic missile, which can reach Mach 5, aims to improve the US’s ability to strike distant targets, allowing for attacks on well-defended targets.
The estimate is that by this year, Mayhem will be formally deployed. The program also plans to develop the Hypersonic Air-Breathing Weapon Concept HAWC, among other things, for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, despite little information being released about Mayhem.
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Press releases emphasize that Leidos will utilize model-based engineering and digital systems. This fits into a strategy of the US Air Force, which gives digital engineering a higher priority in weapon development to accelerate development and make projects more precise.
The company claims that this new contract for the Mayhem project will assist the Air Force Research Laboratory in developing an air-breathing hypersonic missile system during the first 5 years of its performance period.
Scramjet Engine Used in Hypersonic Missile That Reaches Mach 5
The System Requirements Review and the Conceptual Design Review will be conducted as part of the initial work order in a Digital Engineering environment. Kratos will participate in the System Design Agent (SDA) team for the Mayhem project alongside Leidos, Draper, and Calspan.
The SDA aims to develop a system that facilitates the rapid use of critical technologies and utilizes skills and resources from various industry partners.
As part of this initiative, the SDA will also employ the best minds to conduct the necessary research and development to produce prototypes of multi-mission hypersonic systems that can breathe air. The SDA will oversee projects, testing, and prototypes to complete a technical data package for practical and high-performance hypersonic weapon systems and deliver it to the US government.
The air-breathing hypersonic systems are powered by scramjet engines, allowing the missile to travel long distances at speeds exceeding Mach 5.
Companies Comment on Project Partnership
The SDA team is tasked with designing a hypersonic system that includes a airframe, a booster, a propulsion system, avionics, and vehicle subsystems that are superior to current air-breathing systems in terms of range and payload capacity.
According to the president of DRSS, Dave Carter, this opportunity will provide a unique capability for US warfighters, and the company is excited to contribute to the new Mayhem project.
Carter emphasizes that, as a key member of the SDA team, Kratos will drive mission success by using its proven agile digital engineering principles in flight and extensive experience in high-performance propulsion, aircraft design, and hypersonics.
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