GE Aerospace has a new contract from the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit to continue developing a liquid-fueled hypersonic test platform for the Hypersonic and High-Cadence Airborne Testing Capabilities program (HyCAT.) Neither party reported the value of the contract, which follows on the initial funding awarded in 2023 for concept development and team formation.

The All-Up-Round is a combined booster and cruising system that GE Aerospace has developed, with air-launched and air-breathing (i.e., “ramjet”) missile capability, that increases the speed and expands the flight trajectories of conventional ballistic missiles. AUR passed a preliminary design review last year.

The technology reportedly is on target for its first flight test in 2028.

Vice president/general manager for GE Aerospace’s Edison Works Steve “Doogie” Russell said higher-frequency hypersonic testing is needed to accelerate the development of U.S. future defense capabilities.

The DIU is a U.S. Dept. of War unit established in 2015 to speed up the identification, selection, and adoption of commercial technology into military service, to address national security challenges. GE Aerospace is one of several private firms that the DIA has contracted to develop and test aspects of hypersonic weaponry.

HyCAT is a DIU’s effort to speed development of U.S. hypersonic weapon systems by establishing partnerships with commercial aerospace businesses and startups, and accessing private-sector capital, technologies, and resources to establish more frequent flight testing and government-managed testing schedules can accomplish.

Hypersonic missiles are low-altitude (subspace) weapons that travel at Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound) or greater, and the combination of speed, low altitude, and maneuverability make them highly effective at avoiding detection by radar or missile defense systems.

Both China and Rusia reportedly have deployed hypersonic weapons, including nuclear-capable missiles, while U.S. hypersonic weapons development is focused on conventionally armed weapons. The U.S. Army has a ground-launched hypersonic missile system nearing deployment, and the U.S. Navy has ship or sub-launched missile in testing. U.S. Air Force has a hypersonic attack cruise missile in development.