Raytheon, Northrop Successfully Test-Fire Hypersonic Missile

(Bloomberg) -- Raytheon Technologies Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. successfully test fired a hypersonic missile, a key step toward potentially delivering a cruise missile to the U.S. military that can travel at more than five times the speed of sound, the companies said Monday.

• Contractors “on track” to deliver weapon prototype to the Pentagon, they said in a statement
• Test missile was released from an aircraft before a solid-rocket motor propelled the weapon to supersonic speed. A scramjet engine, which compresses air prior to combustion, then boosted weapon to more than Mach 5, the statement said
• Note: Raytheon and Northrop are working together to deliver functional hypersonic weapon under a $200 million contract with Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, U.S. Air Force

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