Navy to approach industry by end of the year for carrier-based hypersonic anti-ship missiles for combat jets
PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. – U.S. Navy hypersonic weapons experts will approach industry by the end of this year to develop a new hypersonic munition that can be launched from carrier-based aircraft for attacking enemy surface ships and shore installations.
Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command's Precision Strike Weapons Program Office (PMA-201) at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., released a presolicitation on 25 Sept. for full-scale development of the Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (OASuW) (HALO) Weapon System.
Preliminary development of HALO has been handled by Lockheed Martin Corp. and by missile designers at Raytheon Technologies Corp. (RTX) in Tucson, Ariz. Hypersonic is a missile or aircraft that moves faster than five times the speed of sound, or 3,836.35 miles per hour.
HALO will be a carrier-based long-range high-speed anti-surface weapon system. A HALO engineering manufacturing and development draft request for proposal will be issued this year by the end of December, and the final request for proposal will be issued by March 2024.
Related: U.S. military moving forward on hypersonics
HALO likely will augment or replace current carrier-based anti-ship missile systems like the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), Harpoon, and Penguin missiles. Hypersonic missiles typically will be for attacking high-value targets like enemy capital ships, command posts, or forward-staging areas.
The HALO hypersonic weapon should have early fielding by 2029, and first operational capability by 2031. Only eligible prime contractors who have experience with carrier-based hypersonic weapons development -- like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin -- will have access to the upcoming HALO solicitations.
HALO engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) will design, develop, and test this weapon system, including the HALO all-up-round; system security; operational test and evaluation; and moving the HALO system into production.
Email questions or concerns about the HALO EMD effort to the Navy's Brittany Graves at [email protected], or Jessica Blackwell at [email protected]. More information is online at https://sam.gov/opp/af555b72c98b424bbccc0141302daa46/view.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
