Diehl Defence, OCCAR, SMS and other companies are involved

Diehl Defence, a consortium partner for the development of a Hypersonic Defence Interceptor Study (HYDEF), has announced that OCCAR signed the project, along with another partner, Spanish Missile Systems (or SMS, formed by some Spanish companies) on 31 October in Bonn, marking the official kick-off of the programme.

The aim is to develop a system to detect and intercept hypersonic cruise missiles (HCMs) and highly agile hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs). This will be realised through the networking of various, partly space-based sensors and the interceptor system, which will be deployed based on existing NATO BMD command and control systems wherever possible. The consortium is qualified to solve this highly complex and multidimensional task of system interconnection.

Diehl Defence CEO Helmut Rauch congratulated the project team and announced: “This is an important milestone for the HYDEF project. The realisation of tomorrow’s air defence, specifically against hypersonic threats, can now begin in Europe.”

The consortium consists of 13 companies from seven European nations. While SMS is the project coordinator, Diehl Defence will manage the technical implementation, from the development of the overall system to the interceptor itself. Also HENSOLDT, Airbus and other companies are involved as national partners in the HYDEF project, according to Diehl.

The project won the EU Commission tender in 2022 and will funded by some €100m from the European Defence Fund (EDF), and it is closely linked  to the PESCO project “Timely Warning and Interception with Space-based TheatER Surveillance (TWISTER).”