Aerojet Rocketdyne Awarded DARPA Contract to Design Advanced OpFires Propulsion System
December 11 2018 - 5:51PM
Aerojet Rocketdyne will design propulsion concepts and technologies
for a novel ground-launched tactical weapon system under a U.S.
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract
potentially valued at $13.4 million.
DARPA’s Operational Fires, or OpFires, program seeks to develop
a mobile missile system that would be capable of delivering a
variety of tactical payloads to different ranges that could rapidly
and precisely engage time-sensitive targets. The program will
leverage and integrate ongoing investments being made in hypersonic
tactical boost glide vehicles.
“We are very pleased to have been selected by DARPA to develop
propulsion technologies to support the OpFires program,” said
Eileen Drake, CEO and president of Aerojet Rocketdyne. “Our
innovative team has a tremendous amount of experience developing
hypersonic and missile technologies, such as solid rocket booster
motors, divert and attitude control systems, warheads and scramjet
propulsion systems. We look forward to applying our experience to
the OpFires program.”
The first phase of the OpFires program is focused on the design
and development of an advanced solid rocket motor and is valued at
$4.6 million over a 12-month period. The award contains an option
for Phase 2, under which Aerojet Rocketdyne would build and test at
least two representative booster test articles. That option, if
exercised, would be worth $8.8 million over 12 months.
OpFires is intended to address the U.S. military’s requirement
for a long-range tactical missile capable of penetrating enemy air
defenses to engage high-value, time-sensitive targets. The system
would be rapidly deployable, flexible and fit within existing
ground force infrastructure.
Aerojet Rocketdyne supplies both solid-fueled and air-breathing
propulsion systems for hypersonic flight. The company provided both
types of systems for the joint Air Force-DARPA-NASA X-51A
Waverider, the first vehicle to fly at hypersonic speed under the
power of a supersonic-combustion ramjet, or scramjet, engine. More
recently, the company successfully tested a dual-mode
ramjet/scramjet engine, technology that when combined with a gas
turbine engine has the potential to one day propel a vehicle from a
standstill – current scramjet engines can only operate at high
speeds – to hypersonic speed, which is generally defined as Mach 5
or faster.
About Aerojet Rocketdyne: Aerojet Rocketdyne, a
subsidiary of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AJRD), is a
world-recognized aerospace and defense leader that provides
propulsion systems and energetics to the space, missile defense and
strategic systems, and tactical systems areas, in support of
domestic and international customers. For more information, visit
www.Rocket.com and www.AerojetRocketdyne.com. Follow Aerojet
Rocketdyne and CEO Eileen Drake on Twitter at @AerojetRdyne and
@DrakeEileen.
Media Contacts:
Todd McConnell, Aerojet Rocketdyne,
561-882-5395todd.mcconnell@rocket.comBill Bigelow, Aerojet
Rocketdyne, 256-971-2661william.bigelow@rocket.com
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