DARPA NGHCM hypersonic scramjet cruise missile concept for IADS penetration

DARPA is soliciting industry input for the Next Generation Hypersonic Cruise Missile (NGHCM), an air-breathing scramjet cruise missile intended to be survivable against modern integrated air defenses while remaining affordable for mass production. The novelty is the explicit push for a scalable (250–2000 nm), rapidly fielded hypersonic cruise missile architecture with emphasis on propulsion, thermal/materials, and low-observable testing approaches.