EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Nov. 25, 2003 -- Northrop Grumman
Corporation (NYSE:NOC) will help the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Air Force develop a concept
for a high-speed, unmanned aircraft and related "glide weapons"
that could deliver conventional, non-nuclear weapons from the U.S.
to anywhere on the globe in about two hours. This hypersonic cruise
weapon system would allow the U.S. to conduct effective,
time-critical strike missions on a global basis without relying on
overseas military bases.
Northrop Grumman's six-month cost-sharing study contract will
support the system definition phase (Phase I) of the joint
DARPA/Air Force Application and Launch from the Continental United
States (FALCON) technology demonstration program.
"This project continues the investments that Northrop Grumman has
made in recent years to help the U.S. government reach its goal of
affordable, reusable access to space," said Doug Young, director of
space access programs for Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems
sector. "The company's heritage of innovative, advanced technology
strike systems and its global leadership in unmanned air vehicle
systems will provide critical momentum to the nation's efforts to
define, develop and deploy a military space plane."
The DARPA/Air Force vision for FALCON is to develop, by 2025, a
reusable hypersonic cruise vehicle that could take off from a
conventional military runway and strike targets 9,000 nautical
miles away in less than two hours. Flying at speeds up to eight
times the speed of sound (Mach 8 ), the hypersonic cruise vehicle
would carry a 12,000-pound payload comprising several unpowered,
maneuverable, hypersonic glide vehicles called common aero
vehicles; cruise missiles; small diameter bombs or other munitions.
Each common aero vehicle would carry approximately 1,000 pounds in
munitions.
As a step toward implementing the hypersonic cruise vehicle
concept, DARPA and the Air Force propose developing, by 2010, a
global strike capability that would launch common aero vehicles on
a low-cost, mission-responsive small launch vehicle. DARPA and the
Air Force are developing the small launch vehicle under a separate
contract.
During Phase 1, Northrop Grumman will develop concepts for
demonstration and operational versions of the hypersonic cruise
vehicle and identify technologies required to develop and deploy
each. The team will design a hypersonic cruise vehicle with a high
lift-to-drag ratio and adequate flight control surfaces; define a
thermal protection system that will allow the vehicle to fly at
extreme speeds; and resolve guidance, navigation, communications,
and command and control issues caused by the ionized boundary layer
that forms at extreme speeds between the vehicle and the
atmosphere.
The team will also perform subsystem and system-level trade studies
to produce preferred design concepts for demonstration and
operational versions of the common aero vehicle.
The demonstration common aero vehicle system will be able to fly
3,000 nautical miles in approximately 800 seconds and deliver a
1,000-pound penetrator munition. An enhanced version of this
demonstration system will be able to fly 9,000 nautical miles in
approximately 3,000 seconds. The common aero vehicle and its
enhanced version will also be able to "turn" to hit targets up to
800 and 3,000 nautical miles, respectively, off a straight
trajectory.
For the most part, common aero vehicles require the same
technologies as hypersonic cruise vehicles, but also need a more
rigorous thermal protection system to prevent their payloads from
melting at re-entry speeds as high as Mach 25. By comparison, the
hypersonic cruise vehicle will return to its base at speeds of
approximately Mach 3-4.
In addition to its hypersonic cruise vehicle and common aero
vehicle system-definition work, Northrop Grumman will also develop
high-level concepts of operation for basing and deploying the
hypersonic cruise vehicle and common aero vehicles to achieve the
desired global strike capability.
The current six-month system definition phase, which includes
multiple contracts, is the first of three phases planned for the
FALCON program. At the conclusion of Phase I, DARPA and the Air
Force will decide whether to proceed with Phase II, a 36-month
system design and development phase, and a subsequent Phase III, a
30-month weapon system demonstration phase.
Northrop Grumman's FALCON program team is led by its Integrated
Systems sector, but includes significant roles for the company's
Mission Systems sector, Reston, Va., and Electronic Systems sector,
Baltimore. The team also includes subcontractors Aerojet-General
Corporation, Sacramento, Calif.; Space Works, Atlanta, Ga.; Textron
Systems, Wilmington, Mass.; HITCO Carbon Composites, Gardena,
Calif.; and Pratt & Whitney, East Hartford, Conn.
Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems is a premier aerospace and
defense systems integration enterprise. Headquartered in El
Segundo, Calif., it designs, develops, produces and supports
network-enabled integrated systems and subsystems for government
and civil customers worldwide. Integrated Systems delivers
best-value solutions, products and services that support military
and homeland defense missions in the areas of intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance; space access; battle management
command and control; and integrated strike warfare.
http://www.irconnect.com/noc/pages/news_releases.mhtml?d=48827
DARPA paper on the project
http://www.darpa.mil/tto/falcon/FALCON_PIP_Amendment1.doc