Huntsville, Alabama firms Cummings Aerospace and ATRX are to jointly develop an unmanned hypersonic drone.
The drone will be a variant of the Hellhound subsonic weapons system Cummings Aerospace is already working on for the US Army.
Cummings produces missiles, radars, and command and control systems. ATRX is a startup developing an Air Turbo Rocket (ATR) propulsion system and spaceplane concept.
The ATR is an Overjet, also known as a Multi-Mode Combined Cycle Propulsion Engine and uses a rocket-type gas generator to power, and overdrive the turbojet. The ATR features an air-breathing design and has already completed several prototype tests.
The Hellhound family of drones has variants including the Hellhound S3 developed for the US Army’s Loitering Munition program, which recently completed a series of flight tests.
The companies will work together to integrate ATR onto a proven airframe to develop affordable drones that can fly at supersonic and hypersonic speeds. The companies plan to integrate the ATR engine into a Hellhound variant designed for high-speed flight and to partner on the subsonic and supersonic flight testing.
According to ATRX and Cummings, the hypersonic hellhound drone will use a 3D printed modular design and COTS hardware to reduce costs and allow for rapid payload swaps in less than five minutes, with no required tools.
ATRX says its engine can produce around 40% more thrust than an afterburning turbojet of the same size and that it will be suitable for applications requiring brief bursts of thrust, like short take-offs, fast climbs or high acceleration. The company envisions applications in space launch systems and missiles.
Felix Bustos III, CEO of ATRX said, “We’re excited about this partnership because it will significantly simplify flight testing of our ATR engines.
“Being able to validate the performance of our ATRs using a bespoke UAS [unmanned aerial system] based on a flight-proven airframe will de-risk and accelerate our spaceplane development efforts. Spaceplanes are very much needed with more than 50,000, mostly commercial, satellites that need to be launched into orbit in the next few years.”
Sheila Cummings, CEO of Cummings Aerospace said, “The modern battlefield demands systems that are capable of flying faster and further into contested airspace. This partnership with ATRX will allow us to develop ATR-powered UAS that can offer both of these characteristics in a single vehicle, at an affordable price.”
