US: Northrop Grumman unveils new maritime strike missile concept

WORLD  06 April 2023 - 17:14

Northrop Grumman has unveiled a new long-range, fast-flying maritime strike missile concept that features an air-breathing propulsion system.

This comes after a recent announcement that the company had partnered with Raytheon to develop a very similar-sounding missile as part of a project that will feed into future variants of the US Army's Precision Strike Missile, The Drive reports.

A mockup of Northrop Grumman's new missile is on display at the Navy League's annual Sea-Air-Space conference and exhibition just outside Washington, D.C., which opened on April 5. The model depicting the maritime strike concept is situated below another one of the company's AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile-Extended Range (AARGM-ER), which you can read more about here.

Details about the maritime strike missile concept are limited. A Northrop Grumman representative at the show told The War Zone that the design leverages past work the company has done and could conceivably be air-launched from a suitable platform, as well as surface launched, such as from a ship or ground-based launcher.

The Navy did just recently award contracts for the development of an air-launched anti-ship cruise missile as part of a program called Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare, or HALO, as you can read more about here. A Northrop Grumman/Raytheon team received one of those deals, but the representative at Sea-Air-Space told us that the maritime strike missile concept isn't being developed right now in response to any particular requirement from a branch of the US military or another customer.

The model of the maritime strike missile features two pronounced strakes on opposite sides of the missile's body, similar in broad strokes to those on the AARGM-ER, as well as just three tail fins. On the AARGM-ER, the strakes are designed to provide additional lift and manoeuvrability, especially at high speeds, in lieu of additional fins elsewhere along the body. This, in turn, helps reduce drag and increases range and overall speed.

In terms of speed, the maritime strike missile concept is air-breathing, at least in part. It has an intake under the nose often associated with ramjet and scramjet engines. Ramjets and scramjets do not work effectively at low speeds, typically requiring missiles and aircraft that use them to also have some kind of additional rocket booster to propel them first to an optimal velocity. Ramjets and scramjets are generally associated with designs capable of hypersonic or at least high-supersonic speeds. Hypersonic speed is generally defined as anything above Mach 5.

Caliber.Az