US to design interceptor for hypersonic defense VIDEO

Raytheon Missiles and Space’s proposal for the Missile Defense Agency’s Glide Phase Interceptor program will begin preliminary design after the company reached a key milestone earlier this week.

The company announced on September 20 that it had completed the Systems Requirements Review-Prototype stage for the missile defence program, meaning that the contractor and the government have a mutual understanding of the requirements before moving forward, according to Breaking Defense.

“We have a firm understanding of the requirements, and we’re ready to continue GPI development,” said Tay Fitzgerald, president of Strategic Missile Defense at Raytheon Missiles & Defense, in a statement. “This is a major step toward delivering this capability to the warfighter.”

The Glide Phase Interceptor is a Missile Defense Agency program that is designed to destroy incoming hypersonic missiles during their glide phase of flight, between the launch phase and terminal phase. The interceptors would be launched from Navy Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense destroyers and integrate into the Aegis Weapon System to detect, track and engage hypersonic missiles, part of the Missile Defense Agency’s layered missile defence.

“The Raytheon Missiles & Defense GPI concept employs a low-risk solution that uses proven Standard Missile technology already deployed on Aegis ships, while advancing critical technologies needed in the hypersonic environment,” Fitzgerald said.

Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin were selected for earlier GPI phases last November. In June, the Pentagon announced $41 million in contract modifications for Raytheon and Northrop to move forward with the program, eliminating Lockheed. Under the contract, Northrop and Raytheon are required to “continue to further develop and refine their concept leading to a system requirements review – prototype.”

The Missile Defense Agency’s fiscal 2023 budget request asked for $225 million for hypersonic missile defence, and its unfunded requirements list included $318 million for more hypersonic defenses. In congressional testimony also in May, Hill said the additional money would be used for GPI.