Pentagon Awards $13Mln Contract To Northrop Grumman For Hypersonic Interceptor Technology

Pentagon Awards $13Mln Contract to Northrop Grumman for Hypersonic Interceptor Technology

The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded US defense technology company Northrop Grumman a $13 million contract to develop technology capable of intercepting hypersonic weapons, the Department of Defense's website shows

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2020) The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded US defense technology company Northrop Grumman a $13 million contract to develop technology capable of intercepting hypersonic weapons, the Department of Defense's website shows.

On Friday, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that his department doubled its investment in developing hypersonic weapons and would further increase it in 2021.

"This [new] contract provides for the research, development and demonstration of a technology that is critical for enabling an advanced interceptor capable of engaging maneuvering hypersonic threats in the upper atmosphere," the Pentagon's press release on new contracts said.

The contract is a part of the Glide Breaker program and has the estimated completion date of January 2021, according to the statement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly announced that Russia possessed hypersonic weapons in March 2018. Soon after, US Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Griffin admitted that Russia and China are "observably ahead of where our current state of practice is" in terms of hypersonics.