Lockheed Martin is moving the US hypersonic missile program a step closer to production with the announcement that it has begun work on its Next Generation Glide Body (NXGB), a new hypersonic vehicle designed for low-cost, large-scale manufacturing.
Hypersonic missiles have been in development for a while now, but these have tended to be extremely complex machines that are mind-bogglingly expensive to make and slow to deploy. That may have been acceptable in the decades following the Cold War, but today's geopolitical environment is pushing both major and mid-sized military powers to prioritize advanced weapon systems that can be manufactured quickly, in large numbers, and at lower cost.
To that end, Lockheed Martin is launching the NXGB program at its facility in Huntsville, Alabama. The goal is to develop a hypersonic glide body that is simpler than current designs, with a modular architecture and a manufacturing-first approach intended to enable rapid scaling while reducing production costs.
One reason for this strategy is the choice of a glide body rather than a powered hypersonic vehicle. While hypersonic missiles powered by ramjets or other advanced propulsion systems offer significant performance advantages, glide bodies are mechanically much simpler to build and deploy.
As the name implies, a glide body isn't powered. Instead, it's mounted onto a rocket booster and launched from the ground, a ship, or an aircraft. The booster accelerates it to high altitudes and extreme speeds before separating, allowing the unpowered glide body to descend. The unpowered glide body then follows a controlled descent from near-space, using aerodynamic lift to maneuver while maintaining hypersonic speeds above Mach 5 en route to its target. Although it lacks continuous propulsion, it is mechanically the simplest way to achieve sustained hypersonic flight.
Technical specifications for the NXGB have not been released, though Lockheed Martin says that it can be launched from a variety of platforms, including both air- and surface-launched systems. The first scheduled flight is expected in 2027.
"The future of deterrence belongs to solutions that combine innovative Modular Open Systems Approach and modern design methods with proven performance," said Johnathon Caldwell, Lockheed Martin vice president and general manager of Strategic and Missile Defense Systems. "NXGB reflects a paradigm shift focusing on design for manufacturing at scale while implementing decades of lessons learned designing, producing, and delivering mission-critical systems for the warfighter. That heritage allows us to move faster as well as reduce risk and cost while keeping exceptional performance.”
Source: Lockheed Martin
