Kratos Defense & Security Solutions [KTOS] and Australia’s Hypersonix
last week said they agreed on an exclusive teaming agreement to bring the Australian company’s DART AE hypersonic system to the U.S. and integrate it with Kratos’ Zeus family of solid rocket motors.
The goal of the partnership is “frequently and reliably deliver an affordable, high cadence, high availability, overall hypersonic-capable system and vehicle to the hypersonic community,” the companies said.
Once DART AE and Zeus are combined into a flight system that has been successfully demonstrated, the agreement calls for Kratos to acquire 20 of the DART AE systems.
The DART AE is a three-meter long, single-use, hydrogen-fueled scramjet technology demonstrator. The system is powered by Hypersonix’ Spartan scramjet engine. Spartan’s airframe is entirely 3D-printed.
The partnership “enables the Kratos-Hypersonix team to be first-to-market with a relevant capability in support of U.S. and Australia hypersonic initiatives,” Dave Carter, president of Kratos’ Defense & Rocket Systems division, said in a statement. “With Kratos’ Zeus family of solid rocket launch systems, Kratos’ Erinyes and Dark Fury hypersonic flyers, and the DART AE hypersonic vehicle, we can provide incredible capability to the hypersonic community at an affordable cost.”
Earlier this year, Hypersonix said it had been selected by the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit to provide hypersonic vehicles for testing under the Hypersonic and High-Cadence Airborne Testing Capabilities (HyCAT) program. The company also said in April that it is partnering with Rocket Lab USA [RKLB] for the first launch of DART AE, which will be conducted for the HyCAT program.