Boeing will create a prototype hypersonic interceptor for DARPA

As part of a four-year endeavour, Boeing will develop and test technology for a hypersonic interceptor prototype for DARPA’s Glide Breaker programme. During flight tests, Boeing will conduct computational fluid dynamics analysis, wind tunnel testing, and study of aerodynamic jet interaction effects.

“Hypersonic vehicles are among the most dangerous and rapidly evolving threats facing national security,” said Gil Gryphon, executive director of Boeing Phantom Works Advanced Weapons. “We’re concentrating on the technological understanding required to advance our nation’s counter-hypersonic capabilities and defend against future threats.”Glide Breaker is designed to inform the design and development of future hypersonic interceptors capable of destroying threats travelling at least five times the speed of sound in the upper atmosphere during the “glide phase” of flight. The development and testing headed by Boeing will provide the groundwork for future operational glide-phase interceptors capable of countering these sophisticated and growing hypersonic threats.

“This phase of the Glide Breaker programme will determine how factors like hypersonic airflow and firing jet thrusters to guide the vehicle affect system performance at extreme speed and altitude in a representative digital environment,” Gryphon explained. “We’re pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in terms of intercepting an extremely fast object in an extremely dynamic environment.”