Bid document

Request for Information

DARPA-SN-26-93

Next Generation Hypersonic Cruise Missile
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Tactical Technology Office (TTO)
Responses due October 06, 2026, by 5:00 PM Eastern Time (ET). Responses to this Request for Information (RFI) will be used to refine the Government's technical requirements, validate programmatic assumptions, and inform the acquisition strategy for a potential competitive Program Solicitation (PS). The primary intent of this RFI is to inform industry of a potential new DARPA program and to encourage innovative contractor/subcontractor teaming arrangements between traditional and non-traditional defense contractors, technology developers, and specialized test and evaluation (T&E) providers prior to formal solicitation.
Intellectual or other privileged or proprietary information contained in response to this RFI will not be distributed outside of the U.S. Government. If a new DARPA program is derived as a result of the responses to this RFI and a PS is released, no intellectual or other proprietary information received in response to this RFI will be divulged to agencies outside of the U.S. Government.

BACKGROUND:

Future U.S. military operations face increasingly significant challenges from the rapid proliferation and advancement of highly capable Integrated Air Defense Systems (IADS) by peer adversaries. These systems threaten to restrict the operational freedom of U.S. forces and diminish the effectiveness of current stand-off strike capabilities. While prior technology demonstration programs have successfully proven the fundamental viability of scramjet-powered flight to counter the evolving threat landscape, existing concepts often achieve predictable, incremental gains in isolated performance metrics, representing evolutionary improvements rather than the disruptive capabilities required for future conflicts. Furthermore, legacy manufacturing processes often result in systems that are too expensive and complex to produce at the scale required for peer conflict. The Next Generation Hypersonic Cruise Missile (NGHCM) is a system-level development and demonstration effort. The goal is to design, build, and flight-test a fully integrated hypersonic cruise missile system demonstrator. This demonstrator must establish the foundation for a nextgeneration capability that delivers a revolutionary leap in operational performance—specifically in range, cruise speed, and/or altitude. This capability must maintain technological superiority,