Aerojet Rocketdyne Selected by DoD to Demo "Powder-in, Engine-out" Hypersonic Propulsion Manufacturing

Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company, has been awarded a $22 million Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) contract from the Department of Defense (DoD) Manufacturing Technology Program, through Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane, to develop a prototype solution for the Growing Additive Manufacturing Maturity for Airbreathing Hypersonics (GAMMA-H) challenge. The GAMMA-H program is part of the DoD’s ongoing efforts to expand current processes to manufacture hypersonic weapons components.

According to the DoD, GAMMA-H will contribute toward advancing additive manufacturing processes that can affordably meet the propulsion performance and environmental requirements that modern hypersonic airbreathing systems demand.

“Aerojet Rocketdyne will consolidate several essential steps of the end-to-end scramjet manufacturing process under the GAMMA-H contract, which will provide schedule and cost efficiencies associated with a less fragmented supply chain,” said Aerojet Rocketdyne president Ross Niebergall. “Optimizing processes will increase part yields and reduce the number of processing steps, resulting in higher production velocity and lower cost.”

More than a decade after making hypersonic history with the X-51 Waverider, Aerojet Rocketdyne has continued to evolve advanced hypersonic propulsion through numerous successful test flights supporting the nation’s need for faster, more maneuverable missile systems.