Photo: Northrup Grumman
The development of hypersonics has taken missiles to the next level, making them faster, more powerful, and increasing their survivability. With the U.S. military’s increased interest in next-generation weapons, it was only a matter of time until more decisive steps were taken toward advancing hypersonic technology. One of them is Northrop Grumman’s new state-of-the-art Hypersonics Center of Excellence.
Northrop Grumman announced that it broke ground on a new space for weapons technology development: the Hypersonics Center of Excellence, at its facility in Elkton, Maryland. The aerospace and defense technology company has ties with this particular location that go back to 1948. Since then, this is where numerous products for defense and space applications were developed.
Now, it’s time to take things to the next level and dive even deeper into hypersonics. From design to production and integration, the company plans to deliver the full lifecycle for hypersonic weapons, at the 60,000-square foot facility.
With technology developments moving so fast, it was important for Northrop Grumman to be able to respond to constantly evolving defense needs as quickly and as effectively as possible. According to it, this new center will integrate cutting-edge production technologies, and automated processes will be a big part of this, including the use of autonomous guided vehicles.
According to a recent Federation of American Scientists (FAS) report for the U.S. Congress, there’s an increased interest in developing hypersonic weapons, because of the current potential threats. Several countries are already working on weapons that can fly at a speed of more than Mach 5, which is 5 times the speed of sound.
There are 2 main types, namely hypersonic glide vehicles (HGV), which are launched from rockets, and hypersonic cruise missiles that are powered by engines known as scramjets. The main advantages are the high speed, the low flight altitude that makes them more difficult to detect for ground-based radars, plus the fact that they can maneuver on the way to the target. Unlike ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons don’t have a fixed trajectory.
Northrup Grumman is no stranger to scramjets and ramjets. With this new hypersonics production facility, it’s ready to make them even more effective, affordable, also delivering them faster to the U.S. military.
Now, it’s time to take things to the next level and dive even deeper into hypersonics. From design to production and integration, the company plans to deliver the full lifecycle for hypersonic weapons, at the 60,000-square foot facility.
With technology developments moving so fast, it was important for Northrop Grumman to be able to respond to constantly evolving defense needs as quickly and as effectively as possible. According to it, this new center will integrate cutting-edge production technologies, and automated processes will be a big part of this, including the use of autonomous guided vehicles.
According to a recent Federation of American Scientists (FAS) report for the U.S. Congress, there’s an increased interest in developing hypersonic weapons, because of the current potential threats. Several countries are already working on weapons that can fly at a speed of more than Mach 5, which is 5 times the speed of sound.
There are 2 main types, namely hypersonic glide vehicles (HGV), which are launched from rockets, and hypersonic cruise missiles that are powered by engines known as scramjets. The main advantages are the high speed, the low flight altitude that makes them more difficult to detect for ground-based radars, plus the fact that they can maneuver on the way to the target. Unlike ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons don’t have a fixed trajectory.
Northrup Grumman is no stranger to scramjets and ramjets. With this new hypersonics production facility, it’s ready to make them even more effective, affordable, also delivering them faster to the U.S. military.
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