IRIA News

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The United States Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has decided to move forward with Northrop Grumman Corporation for the Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI) program. The GPI initiative is the first-of-its-kind defensive countermeasure against hypersonic missile threats.

U.S. defense manufacturer Northrop Grumman highlighted in a statement, “Working in close partnership with MDA, the three-year developmental effort produced a purpose-built, innovative design capable of defeating existing and emerging hypersonic threats.”

In the next phase of development, Northrop Grumman will further refine the preliminary design of the Glide Phase Interceptor, which will be launched from U.S. Navy Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense destroyers and Aegis Ashore platforms using the standard Vertical Launch System.

According to the Northrop Grumman statement, the primary goals include validating system performance in hypersonic environments ahead of the Preliminary Design Review, completing flight experiments ahead of schedule by leveraging the company’s proven flight systems and utilizing digital engineering practices to integrate the entire GPI program.

The company is focused on accelerating design processes and enhancing the development of interceptor capabilities with greater speed and efficiency.

Vice president and general manager of launch and missile defense systems at Northrop Grumman, Wendy Williams said, “GPI adds mission-critical standoff to warfighters in scenarios where distance creates an advantage. Tailorable to a multitude of mission requirements, Northrop Grumman’s revolutionary solution is designed to perform in the evolving threat landscape.”

Northrop Grumman’s design for the next-generation Glide Phase Interceptor includes advanced technologies, such as a seeker for precise threat tracking and hit-to-kill accuracy, a re-ignitable upper-stage engine for enhanced threat containment, and a dual engagement mode capable of targeting threats across various altitudes.

Earlier in May 2024, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Missile Defense Agency and Northrop Grumman announced plans to collaborate with Japan to develop a counter-hypersonic capability to address the emergence of hypersonic and other sophisticated missile capabilities. Under the agreement with Japan’s Ministry of Defense, the U.S. would support Japan’s capabilities to defend against hypersonic missiles and strengthen overall missile defense deterrence.

Hypersonic Weapons and Interceptors

Hypersonic weapons are the next generation of weapons aimed at targeting adversaries with increased precision and without giving conventional interceptors the time to react. Several countries have been involved in the process of developing their hypersonic weapons as well as equipping their strategic allies with technologies that can reach speeds above Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound).

Contrary to a conventional ballistic missile, hypersonic missiles do not follow a trajectory but instead follow a route that makes it faster, more reliable, and easier to maneuver as well as far more accurate in finding the target as small as six inches. Hypersonic missiles’ parallel glider trajectory also allows them to follow a straight path to avoid entering the ground radar’s detection zone until it is already too close to the target.

Since a hypersonic missile uses a low path and maneuverable trajectory to deceive conventional radars and projectile detecting systems, tracking such missiles through satellite systems and keeping up with the speed of a projectile moving at hypersonic speeds is extremely difficult.

To address the hypersonic threat, the U.S. Space Force and the MDA are collaborating to develop a satellite system to track hypersonic ballistic missiles from space. Focused on the approach of “hitting a bullet with a bullet,” MDA is working on glide phase interceptors to use a hypersonic system to take out a hypersonic missile as they believe that the weapon is most vulnerable in the glide phase of the flight.

The MDA has successfully developed, tested, and deployed the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system designed to detect and intercept incoming ballistic warheads. These unpowered warheads follow a trajectory largely defined by the Earth’s gravity after launch, enabling GMD to accurately track and neutralize the threats, often described as the ability to “hit a bullet with a bullet.”