Raytheon, Northrop Grumman partner on weapons development

Raytheon Company and Northrop Grumman Corporation have partnered to develop, produce, and integrate Northrop Grumman’s scramjet combustors to power Raytheon’s air-breathing hypersonic weapons.

“The Raytheon / Northrop Grumman team is quickly developing air-breathing hypersonic weapons to keep our nation ahead of the threat,” Thomas Bussing, Raytheon Advanced Missile Systems vice president, said. “This agreement combines Raytheon’s decades of tactical missile expertise with Northrop Grumman’s extensive scramjet engine development experience to produce the best possible weapons.”

Scramjet engines use high vehicle speed to forcibly compress incoming air before combustion to enable sustained flight at hypersonic speeds, noting the speeds reduce flight times and increase weapon survivability, effectiveness and flexibility.

Under the terms of the agreement, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman will continue to collaborate on the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) and future air-breathing hypersonic missiles.

“This teaming agreement extends our strong partnership with Raytheon on this critical technology capability,” Mike Kahn, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman’s Defense Systems, said. “Our deep heritage in propulsion, fuzes, and warheads will help accelerate readiness of tomorrow’s missiles to meet range, survivability, safety, and lethality requirements. Together with Raytheon, we intend to make great strides toward improving our nation’s high-speed weapon systems, which are critical to enhancing warfighters’ capabilities for greater standoff and quicker time to target.”