Defense technology firm Kratos has announced a significant deal worth up to $1.45 billion with the Pentagon to assist in developing a low-cost testbed for hypersonic technologies. This contract is part of the Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Test Bed (MACH-TB) 2.0 program and is set to span a performance period of five years if all options are exercised.
Collaborative Effort with Industry Leaders
The award, issued as an other transaction authority agreement, sees Kratos leading a team that includes several industry players such as Leidos and Rocket Lab. “Kratos is honored to receive the largest contract award in our company’s history, a testament to the value our employees and team bring to both our Company and United States National Security,” stated Kratos CEO Eric DeMarco in the release.
Commitment to Innovation and Development
“This programmatic milestone underscores our unwavering commitment to making upfront investments for rapidly developing and being first to market with affordable, mission-critical solutions that meet the evolving needs of the warfighter,” DeMarco added.
Focus on Hypersonics
The MACH-TB program, which initially began as a US Navy initiative, encompasses various „Task Areas,” with Kratos’s contract specifically under Task Area 1. Kratos’s responsibilities will include systems engineering, integration, and testing (SEIT) to facilitate integrated subscale, full-scale, and air launch services aimed at affordably increasing the cadence of hypersonic flight tests.
Recent Testing Success
In a past update, Kratos revealed that its Erinyes hypersonic test vehicle successfully completed a flight during a Missile Defense Agency experiment. A company spokesperson shared with Breaking Defense that Erinyes will be one of the hypersonic frontends participating in the MACH-TB initiative, indicating that additional vehicles will also be involved.
Addressing Testing Infrastructure Challenges
Concerns have been raised regarding the limited testing infrastructure available for hypersonic efforts. The MACH-TB program aims to enhance testing capacity for a wide range of Department of Defense users. Flying testbeds envisioned for the MACH-TB effort are designed to assess the performance of critical subsystems under relevant conditions, particularly speeds exceeding Mach 5 for hypersonic technologies.
Strategic Race in Hypersonic Technologies
As the Pentagon races to keep pace with adversaries like Russia and China, which have already deployed hypersonic weapons, recent successful tests from joint Army-Navy missile projects indicate that this objective is becoming increasingly attainable. The Air Force is also advancing its own high-speed projects, suggesting a renewed focus on hypersonic capabilities within the U.S. defense strategy.
