Northrop Grumman Breaks Ground on New Hypersonics Facility.

• Author: Mayfield, Mandy
• Position: NEWS BRIEFS

* ELKTON, Md.--Defense contractor Northrop Grumman unveiled a new Hypersonics Center of Excellence in July that will provide 60,000 square feet for manufacturing the cutting edge weapons.

Four buildings--a case preparation space, propellant machining space, classified engineering office and energetic final assembly--will comprise the facility, which is expected to be fully completed by 2023, company executives said at a groundbreaking ceremony in Elkton, Maryland.

Hypersonic missiles, which are expected to travel faster than Mach 5 and be highly maneuverable, are a top research-anddevelopment priority for the Pentagon. The department has a number of projects underway to pursue the technology.

While Northrop Grumman executives declined to share what hypersonic programs the contractor will be working on in the new facility, they said their weapon production will focus on greater affordability and faster delivery.

Rebecca Torzone, vice president of missile products, said the need for investment in hypersonics is driven by adversaries' progress with the technology. The Pentagon has to become more adaptable to keep up with, the threat environment, she said.

During a military parade in 2019, China showcased a hypersonic glide vehicle known as the DF-17. Russian President Vladimir Putin reported that same year that his country's military had deployed the Avangard hypersonic weapon.

"It's really important that we can meet those adversaries and not only meet them, but leapfrog ahead of where they're at," Torzone said. "We've got to build precise and accurate weapons ... to do that."

Advanced capabilities such as digital engineering will help the facility achieve its goal of creating products faster for the warfighter, she added.

"The quicker that we can do this with the [fewer] people touching the system, so to speak, not only do you get a higher quality system, but you get it coming off the production line much quicker," she said.

Northrop Grumman plans to automate case preparation and non-destructive inspection technology such as X-rays, as well as deploy "autonomous guided vehicles" to improve safety and reliability, according to a press release.

Torzone declined to provide an exact cost estimate for the compound's construction, saying "it's hard to give an all-inclusive number." She added that the investment was "eye-watering" for the company "when we think about growing the kinds of capability and facility that we're going to be growing here."

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