Boeing’s Mission to Defend the Skies: Advancing Hypersonic Interceptor Technology for National Security

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

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According to Gil Gryphon, executive director of Boeing Phantom Works Advanced Weapons, “Hypersonic vehicles are among the most dangerous and rapidly evolving threats facing national security.” “We’re concentrating on the technological understanding required to further advance our country’s counter-hypersonic capabilities and defend against upcoming threats.”

A threat traveling at least five times the speed of sound in the upper atmosphere during what is known as the “glide phase” of flight may be destroyed with the help of a hypersonic interceptor, which is what Glide Breaker is designed to do. Future operational glide-phase interceptors equipped to defend against these complex and developing hypersonic threats will be built on the development and testing conducted by Boeing.

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According to Gryphon, “this stage of the Glide Breaker programme will evaluate how system performance at extreme speed and altitude in a representative digital environment is affected by factors like hypersonic airflow and firing jet thrusters to guide the vehicle.” We’re using cutting-edge technology to intercept an exceedingly fast object in a highly dynamic environment.