Northrop Grumman has opened the first US plant to mass produce engines for HACM hypersonic missiles capable of reaching speeds of more than 6174 km/h

Northrop Grumman became the first company to open a plant in the United States to produce air-jet engines for hypersonic missiles. The enterprise appeared in the state of Maryland.

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The US, like other countries, pays a lot of attention to the development of hypersonic weapons capable of reaching speeds of more than 6174 km/h (M=5) and maintaining it over the entire flight distance. A new facility called the Hypersonics Capability Centre (HCC) will help achieve this goal.

Located in Elkton, the facility will focus on mass production of engines for hypersonic missiles. The plant covers an area of 5,574 square metres. Northrop Grumman officials said the new facility will support the Pentagon's growing need for long-range weapons.

HCC now employs more than 50 people. The facility will produce engines for the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM), and in the future will produce warheads, propulsion systems and other components for future hypersonic systems.

HACM is the US Air Force's top priority after the AGM-183 ARRW programme failed to meet expectations and is virtually guaranteed to be shut down. The service intends to invest almost $2bn in the project until 2028.

In late spring of this year it became known that Raytheon has already started testing components for a promising hypersonic missile. In developing the weapon, the company uses its own developments from the project Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC). In winter, a nuclear bomber successfully launched the HAWC and the missile was able to reach speeds of over 6,100 kilometres per hour.

Source: Northrop Grumman