Hypersonic Warhead Optimization for Lethality

The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) is seeking a hypersonic payload that provides a cost-effective, strategic alternative for shaping and countering emerging near-peer threats. Highly sought by the Department of Defense, hypersonic weapons are rapidly attracting interest across numerous offices, including that of the SCO, which investigates the re-purposing of existing systems and sub-systems, leveraging high technology readiness level (TRL) technologies. Re-purposing of existing systems and/or nearterm emerging technologies may be achieved by application to new missions, integration with other systems, incorporation of recent technology, or adoption of non-traditional or operational concepts. Thus, the hypersonic capabilities sought in this effort will leverage recent technologies to address the knowledge gaps or cost prohibitive items associated with energetics packages and mechanical interfaces. Additionally, SCO is looking to avoid iteration, which is time-consuming and costly, when developing new capabilities from these technologies. As hypersonic capabilities are currently in the early stages of maturation, it is crucial for SCO to identify partners that can minimize time and cost associated with development and demonstration. Corvid demonstrated rapid development of a hypersonic payload during SBIR Topic MDA18-003, “Hyper-Velocity Projectile (HVP) Warhead Optimization for Lethality,” sponsored by the Missile Defense Agency, Directorate for Engineering [contract #HQ0147-18-C-7426]. During this effort, the contractor leveraged high-performance computing to develop a process to optimize a warhead operating at hypersonic closing speeds. OSD SCO is interested in extending the technologies and design process proven for this next generation warhead, which was demonstrated to be robust, scalable, and effective. OSD SCO is seeking to utilize the contractor’s developed process, in conjunction with prototyping and testing experience, to further develop, demonstrate, and validate the performance of the delivered hypersonic payload. Corvid’s development process for a warhead is rooted in extensive modeling and simulation using first-principles codes, followed by validation testing of concepts to fully examine designs. Warhead modeling and simulation leverages hydrocodes, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), Lagrangian structural dynamics codes, and coupled structural-aero codes to rapidly iterate and arrive at a warhead design that meets all performance goals. The design is then validated through a series of key validation tests, including a live static warhead test to verify fragment patterns/velocities and blast overpressure. This aligns with the SCO charter to identify, analyze, demonstrate, and transition game-changing applications of existing and near-term technology to shape and counter emerging threats.