GlobalData : Aerojet Rocketdyne hypersonic propulsion contract in interception program opens door to complimentary programs

14 Feb 2020
Aerojet Rocketdyne hypersonic propulsion contract in interception program opens door to complimentary programs Posted in Aerospace, Defense & Security

Following the news that Aerojet Rocketdyne was recently awarded a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for $12,131,241 by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), with a completion date of February 2021;

Anthony Endresen, Defence Analyst at GlobalData, offers his view:

''This contract is a significant step in the development of an effector for hypersonic glide vehicle defense. This effort compliments the ongoing advancement of technology in the sphere of offensive hypersonic weapons and is in line with the $3.2bn request in the Financial Year 2021 budget for hypersonic weapons, as published on 10^th February 2020.

'This contract, by virtue of being for the propulsion unit, presents a good market position for Aerojet Rocketdyne to gain future contracts in hypersonic weapons programs in addition to this interceptor program.

'The FY2021 budget request is from the Department of Defense's research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) pot, with hypersonics research labelled one of the advanced capabilities enablers (ACEs). Hypersonics were the most funded in this category (with microelectronics/5G at $1.5bn, autonomy at $1.7bn, and artificial intelligence (AI) at $841m), and is itself the largest RDT&E budget in DOD's history ($106.6bn).

'Hypersonic research has been co-ordinated under the Joint Hypersonics Transition Office, with Aerojet Rocketdyne now well positioned to capitalise on previously more fragmented market at the same time as the market grows in earnest.'