19FortyFive columnist Brent Eastwood writes that as part of the US Missile Defense Agency’s Glide Phase Interceptor program, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman will develop new anti-missile defense systems.

The winners of the tender were announced on 24 June. As part of the program, the Pentagon plans to find ways to destroy missiles that fly faster than Mach five. The program is in its early stages, but Raytheon has released a drawing showing the missile being launched from the ship. The company noted that promising ammunition will be integrated into the Baseline 9 Aegis combat information and management system. The interceptor will be able to hit the missile at the planning stage.

Northrop Grumman plans to counter hypersonic missiles with clusters of hundreds of satellites in low Earth orbit. It is believed that the spacecraft will be able to timely record the launch of the rocket and transmit data about the target.

Eastwood suggested that the Missile Defense Agency could select individual elements of the two systems. “However, I tend to use a space constellation as it offers obvious coverage options for hypersonic launches around the world. However, the Aegis option may be faster to acquire, cheaper, less risky and easier to integrate,” he added.