Design and Manufacture of a Prototype Hypersonic Glide Vehicle Target Using C-CAT ACC Materials

An effort has been outlined in which C-CAT will utilize its considerable expertise and capabilities in fabricating large, complex carbon-carbon (C/C) assemblies to produce hardware relevant to a target development effort within the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). The goal of the effort will be to leverage C-CAT’s production-ready C/C materials (Manufacturing Readiness Level and Technology Readiness Level of 8-9) to produce and deliver at least one prototype/manufacturing demonstration article designed to meet the performance requirements of the notional target vehicle. The manufacturing plan will be tailored to maximize producibility while considering the specific thermo-mechanical properties of C-CAT hot-structure materials and expected loads as specified by the design authority. A manufacturing approach based on near-net shape manufacturing methods using established C-CAT best practices and engineering principles will be employed, which will draw heavily from the methods developed on the initial Direct-to-Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) effort performed on this topic. Approved for Public Release | 25-MDA-12220 (23 Sep 25)