Hypersonic missile work for U.S. Air Force to be performed by Kratos
NewsJanuary 11, 2023
SAN DIEGO, California. Leidos has chosen Kratos to support the Expendable Hypersonic Multi-Mission ISR (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) and Strike Program -- a program known as Mayhem -- under an Air Force Research Laboratory project to develop an air-breathing hypersonic weapon system, Kratos announced in a statement.
Kratos will serve as a subcontractor on the Leidos prime contract, acting as a member of the System Design Agent (SDA) team for the Mayhem program, which also includes Calspan and Draper, the company says.
"The role of the SDA for this program [is] to perform research and development necessary for production of air-breathing multi-mission hypersonic system prototypes," the statement reads. "The SDA will oversee designs, prototypes, and tests to ultimately produce and deliver a technical data package for high performance, relevant hypersonic weapon systems."
Air-breathing hypersonic systems work by using what are known as scramjet engines, which are capable of propelling a vehicle at greater than Mach 5 speeds. The SDA team will be "responsible for delivering a hypersonic system design to include airframe, propulsion system, booster, avionics, and vehicle subsystems," the statement adds.
