UK Ministry of Defence Engages Amentum to Accelerate Hypersonic Missile Development

The UK Ministry of Defence is accelerating the development of hypersonic weapons in partnership with the U.S.-based company Amentum.

The announcement was published on Amentum’s official website.

Under the agreement, Amentum has been awarded a contract to deliver engineering support and program management services for the UK’s hypersonic strike capability program.

The Team Hypersonics UK unit signed the agreement to accelerate the development of sovereign British hypersonic weapons.

The partnership will last for at least 15 months, with the option to extend it for a further three years.

“We bring extensive global defense experience and a deep understanding of hypersonic technologies to this vital program,” Lauren Jones, Senior Vice President at Amentum, said.

Today, the United Kingdom is at the forefront among European nations in the development of hypersonic weapons. This area has become a priority for building the country’s non-nuclear deterrent forces and long-range strike capabilities. For example, in 2024, the Australian company Hypersonix also reached an agreement with the UK Ministry of Defence to develop missile technology.

Hypersonix Launch Systems specializes in aerospace engineering, design, and the production of air-breathing hypersonic (scramjet) engines. The parties signed a contract with the UK’s Hypersonic Technologies & Capability Development Framework (HTCDF) a year after Hypersonix reached an agreement with the United States to launch its DART test vehicle.

DART is a hydrogen-powered, aircraft-type vehicle. It is 3.5 meters long, capable of reaching speeds of Mach 7 (around 8,600 km/h), and uses a single SPARTAN air-breathing engine. In the future, the U.S. Army plans to use such vehicles to test new technologies.

Militarnyi previously reported that the United Kingdom is investing significant funds in the development of a national hypersonic missile to close the technological gap.

The United Kingdom has selected 90 industrial companies and research institutions to participate in a tender for contracts aimed at advancing hypersonic technologies.

The participants were chosen under the Hypersonic Technologies & Capability Development Framework program. They will compete for eight lots with a total budget of £1 billion (approximately $1.3 billion).