Hypersonic Booster
Hypersonic missiles, due to their speed, maneuverability, and flight profile, enable rapid defeat of time critical and heavily guarded targets. The RPS OTV is retrofitted as a liquid-fueled hypersonic booster that can accelerate a hypersonic glide body of 15 kg to Mach 4.4 with 165 sec.
The RPS hypersonic missile booster operates on propellants liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid methane (LM/LNG) and is powered by a novel “Centurion” rocket engine developed in-house. At its thrust of 3,307 lbf, the proposed booster represents roughly 1/20th scale of the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) booster by thrust, which is powered by a 2-stage Army/Navy 34.5” diameter solid rocket motor (SRM), with an estimated total thrust of 67,500 lbf. Liquid booster costs are estimated at $875K/subscale and $1.4M/full-scale – 10X lower than SRM. At the 1/20th scale, this booster accelerates a hypersonic glider of 15 kg to Mach 4.4 within 165 sec. A full-scale missile performing the same flight profile carries a 100X heavier, 1,500 kg glider. At both scales, the missile achieves an intermediate range of 560-742 km – in between LRASM and Tomahawk ranges – within 632-942 sec.
The RPS hypersonic missile booster operates on propellants liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid methane (LM/LNG) and is powered by a novel “Centurion” rocket engine developed in-house. At its thrust of 3,307 lbf, the proposed booster represents roughly 1/20th scale of the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) booster by thrust, which is powered by a 2-stage Army/Navy 34.5” diameter solid rocket motor (SRM), with an estimated total thrust of 67,500 lbf. Liquid booster costs are estimated at $875K/subscale and $1.4M/full-scale – 10X lower than SRM. At the 1/20th scale, this booster accelerates a hypersonic glider of 15 kg to Mach 4.4 within 165 sec. A full-scale missile performing the same flight profile carries a 100X heavier, 1,500 kg glider. At both scales, the missile achieves an intermediate range of 560-742 km – in between LRASM and Tomahawk ranges – within 632-942 sec.