DOD Awards Three Companies Contracts to Strengthen Hypersonic Supply Chains

The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy has awarded contracts to General Electric, Carbon-Carbon Advanced Technologies and Northrop Grumman to accelerate the development of hypersonic technology and expand the domestic hypersonic industrial base.

The awards are a response to President Joe Biden’s Executive Order 14017, which highlights the importance of strengthening supply chains for hypersonic and strategic systems, the Department of Defense said.

GE won a three-year, $7.96 million contract to enhance its high- and ultra-high-temperature composites production capacity and upgrade its capital equipment for aeroshell production. Work is being done at the GE Advanced Materials Center in Newark, Delaware.

C-CAT secured a $7.57 million contract to develop new production capabilities and acquire capital equipment for manufacturing large complex assemblies made of a type of advanced composite material called carbon-carbon to increase production capacity for C-C nose tips and aeroshell assemblies in support of DOD-sponsored pilot production programs.

A $9.43 million contract, meanwhile, was awarded to Northrop Grumman to procure automated preform manufacturing equipment and high-temperature furnaces for enhancing its capability to produce U/HTC to support multiple components of hypersonic and strategic systems.