OCCAR and SMS sign Hypersonic Defence Interceptor Study contract

The Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation and Spanish Missile Systems signed a contract on the Hypersonic Defence Interceptor Study in Bonn, Germany, on 31 October 2023. (Diehl Defence)

The Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) and Spanish Missile Systems (SMS) signed a contract on the Hypersonic Defence Interceptor Study (HYDEF) in Bonn, Germany, on 31 October. SMS represented 13 other entities in addition to itself from seven European countries. One of the entities, Diehl Defence, said in a press release on 31 October that the signing marked the official launch of the project.

On its website on 2 November, OCCAR expressed the HYDEF programme's aim as the investigation and definition of a concept for a European interceptor capable of neutralising emerging new threats and those envisaged in the coming decades and encompassing new technologies. These technologies, for example propulsion, aerodynamics, advanced guidance, leading-edge sensors, aerodynamic and actuator systems, and highly agile guidance, will be used to achieve maximum manoeuvrability and capability, according to OCCAR.

SMS is in charge of HYDEF project management and Diehl is responsible for technical implementation from the development of the overall system to the interceptor itself. In future, the overall system will be capable of detecting and intercepting hypersonic cruise missiles and highly agile hypersonic glide vehicles, which will be achieved by networking various partly space-based sensors and the interceptor system deployed on the basis of existing NATO ballistic missile defence command-and-control (C2) systems wherever possible. Diehl was confident that the consortium could solve the highly complex and multidimensional task of system interconnection.

HYDEF can draw on EUR110 million (USD117.9 million), EUR100 million of which is co-funded by the European Union's (EU's) European Defence Fund (EDF), with the project lasting three years.