DARPA and the Air Force conducted the final test of their scramjet-powered Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) missile, DARPA announced Jan. 30, and said the program’s “findings will now be used in follow-on efforts.” The Air Force is moving forward with two hypersonic weapons—the AGM-183 Air-Launched ...
L3Harris announced plans Dec. 18 to acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne, the only U.S. maker of certain propulsion components for several key American military and space assets for $4.7 billion. The deal, which requires final approval from the Federal Trade Commission, would secure L3Harris as one of ...
DARPA is going to keep working on its Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) missile, even though the program for which it’s meant to be a technology pathfinder is already in source selection. A HAWC demonstrator flew successfully this month. The next phase of the program ...
The Defense Department faces a future of high-price, sole-source contracts, reduced innovation, and possible critical shortages if it doesn’t take steps to increase competition and the number of suppliers in the defense industrial base, according to a new Pentagon report. But changing the conditions creating ...
The high cost of hypersonic missiles will likely drive the Air Force to build only small inventories of them, relying more heavily on other types of munitions such as lower-speed cruise missiles, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said Feb. 15. “Hypersonics are not going to ...
The world’s largest defense contractor says it’s given up on trying to buy the only U.S. maker of certain propulsion components of missiles and missile defense kill vehicles. The Federal Trade Commission announced in January that it was suing Lockheed Martin to block the company ...
The Federal Trade Commission is suing to stop the planned Lockheed Martin/Aerojet Rocketdyne merger, saying the deal would give Lockheed Martin unfair advantages while harming competition and innovation. Lockheed Martin has 30 days to decide whether to defend the merger in court or drop the ...
Lockheed Martin took a $225 million loss on a secret program being conducted by its aeronautics division, company officials divulged, but the program will go forward and is expected to enter production, Lockheed Martin CEO James D. Taiclet said on a second quarter earnings call ...
Lockheed Martin will buy Aerojet Rocketdyne, maker of rocket motors and hypersonic engines, among other products, in a $5 billion transaction, Lockheed announced Dec. 21. The biggest issue in the potential deal is how comfortable the industry, Congress, and the Pentagon will be with all ...
The Pentagon has so many hypersonics projects underway there aren't enough people to conduct them and not enough facilities to test them, Air Force chief scientist Richard J. Joseph said during a Dec. 17 Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event. His comments came on the ...
Northrop Grumman will officially move ahead as the sole company in the Air Force’s competition to design a new intercontinental ballistic missile, under a $13.3 billion contract, the service said Sept. 8. Northrop’s design for the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent will replace the 400 nuclear-tipped Minuteman ...