Kratos Lands US$1.4 Billion Pentagon Deal for Hypersonic Tests

Kratos Defense has secured a US$1.45 billion contract with the US Department of Defense (DoD) to advance hypersonic testing capabilities. The five-year agreement, announced on Jan. 6, focuses on supporting the Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Test Bed (MACH-TB) program. 

The MACH-TB initiative is critical in enhancing the development of hypersonic weapons—those capable of exceeding Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. The contract represents one of the Pentagon’s largest investments in hypersonic testing infrastructure.

The program, managed by the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD (R&E)), seeks to expand the frequency and capacity of ground and flight tests for hypersonic systems, particularly for experimental glide bodies and payloads.

“We are honored to be selected to be part of the MACH-TB 2.0 integrated team. The nation is at a critical point in the need for rapid and affordable hypersonic flight testing to quickly develop and field hypersonic technologies, and the MACH-TB program is filling that need,” said Michael Johns, senior vice president, Kratos. 

Under the contract, Kratos will lead a team of contractors, including Leidos, Rocket Lab, Northwind, Corvid Technologies, and academic institutions such as the University of Minnesota and Purdue University. These collaborators will provide systems engineering, mission planning, integration, and testing services. Kratos will oversee the overall systems engineering, integration, and testing of both subscale and full-scale hypersonic systems.

The MACH-TB program builds upon the initial MACH-TB initiative launched in November 2022. The current phase, known as MACH-TB 2.0, is designed to bridge the gap between hypersonic ground tests and system-level flight tests. The program focuses on testing hypersonic systems using commercial launch infrastructure, increasing the frequency of hypersonic flight tests and leveraging dual-use propulsion technologies.

“This award represents the next phase of MACH-TB, a critical effort to accelerate the transition of cutting-edge hypersonic capabilities. MACH-TB is an essential tool to accelerate science and technology experiments into next-generation, leap-ahead hypersonic capabilities for our nation,” said George Rumford, director of the Test Resource Management Center, Pentagon.

Kratos will use commercial infrastructure and launch providers to drive the testing of hypersonic systems. This approach is expected to increase the frequency of tests, providing more opportunities to refine and develop hypersonic weapons that could potentially evade current missile defense systems. The testing process is complex and resource-intensive, and the success of programs like MACH-TB is essential for the US to remain competitive in the hypersonic race.

The hypersonic testing market, as estimated by Quilty Space, is worth between US$6 billion and US$7 billion annually.