A U.S. Defense Department and Norwegian Ministry of Defense project to jointly develop a solid fuel ramjet that could find use in supersonic and hypersonic weaponry will progress to the flight demonstration phase by 2024.
The Tactical High-speed Offensive Ramjet for Extended Range, or THOR-ER, involves research by the U.S. Navy’s Naval Air Warfare Center and the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment besides industry partner Nammo Group to develop supporting technologies that in the future could be incorporated into a high-speed weapons program.
Early development work started in late 2019, and current plans call for the program to conclude by the end of 2024, a Pentagon release said today.
The THOR-ER effort aims to develop and integrate advancements in solid fuel ramjet technologies into full-size prototypes that are affordable, attain high speeds, achieve extended range, and culminate in flight demonstrations in operationally relevant conditions for land, sea and air applications, said Air Force Col. Corey A. Beaverson, director of Mission Prototypes, OUSD(R&E), which is overseeing the project.
A ramjet uses the missile’s forward motion to compress the air for combustion without a compressor or moving parts, he explained. It is possible that ramjet technology could extend the range of a comparable-sized solid-fuel rocket by three or four times.