The contract award includes digital analysis and flight testing of a prototype hypersonic interceptor

The US DARPA has awarded Boeing with $70.6 million under its Glide Breaker program to develop and test technologies for a hypersonic interceptor prototype, the company announced earlier this week.

The Glide Breaker Programme aims to develop a future missile technology capable of destroying threats travelling at least five times the speed of sound (Mach 5) in the upper atmosphere – during the so-called “glade phase” of flight.

As part of this phase of the programme, Boing will perform computational fluid dynamics analysis, wind tunnel testing, and evaluation of aerodynamic jet interaction effects during flight tests with the prototype.

“Hypersonic vehicles are among the most dangerous and rapidly evolving threats facing national security,” said Gil Griffin, Boeing Phantom Works Advanced Weapons executive director. “We’re focusing on the technological understanding needed to further develop our nation’s counter-hypersonic capabilities and defend from future threats.”

Talking about the current phase of the Glide Breaker programme, Griffin said it “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. We’re operating on the cutting edge of what’s possible in terms of intercepting an extremely fast object in an incredibly dynamic environment.”