Leidos Awarded US$334M Air-Breathing Hypersonic System Contract

US firm Leidos has been awarded a US$334 million contract to assist the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in developing an air-breathing hypersonic system. The Expendable Hypersonic Multi-mission ISR (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) and Strike program, known as Mayhem, will tun for 51 months. The initial task order is $24 million to conduct the System Requirements Review (SRR) and Conceptual Design Review (CoDR) in a Digital Engineering (DE) environment.

“To deliver the next generation of air-breathing hypersonic system, we’ll leverage our years of investment, knowledge and success in the hypersonic field,” Leidos’ Dynetics President Steve Cook said. “Our team is prepared to undertake this vital mission for our nation.”

Although the official release doesn’t say so, Australia will be a participant in this program through DSTG’s Hypersonics Research Facility at Eagle Farm in Brisbane. The first successful air-breathing hypersonic motor in the world was the Supersonic Combustion Ramjet, or SCRAMJET, developed by the University of Queensland which flew at Mach 7.6 during the University’s HyShot program at Woomera in July 2022. DSTG has built on this success and its Hypersonics Research Facility is co-located with UQ’s shock tunnel in which much of the early stage research into SCRAMJET propulsion was carried out.

The Mayhem system will use a SCRAMJET engine to generate thrust, propelling the vehicle across long distances at speeds greater than Mach 5. Leidos is tasked with designing and developing a large-class version that surpasses current air-breathing systems in range and payload capacity using digital engineering to ensure the design efforts help future development and transition.

Leidos has assembled a team of leaders from industry and academia, including Calspan, Draper and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., to serve as the System Design Agent (SDA). The SDA will forge partnerships between the government, industry and academia to deliver the cutting-edge research and development needed to design and prepare a production ready technical data package to produce prototypes. Leidos will also lead the Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and programming to help ensure Mayhem can transition from idea to operational system.