Pentagon innovation agency wants faster, more nimble hypersonic cruise missile

The Pentagon office responsible for weapons innovation is seeking a “revolutionary leap” in design for a faster and more maneuverable Next Generation Hypersonic Cruise Missile.

In a “Request for Information” (RFI), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is asking for submissions for a scramjet-powered missile that can fly more than five times the speed of sound and also evade advanced missile interceptors.

“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,” the RFI says.

Submissions are due by Oct. 6.

The need for new U.S. hypersonic weapons was presented in an October 2025 Atlantic Council report.

“Any future U.S. battle against a great power rival, and particularly against the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the Indo-Pacific theater and the Russian Federation in the European theater, will be fought in a highly contested environment where U.S. battlefield dominance will be challenged,” the report states.

Russia and China already field hypersonic weapons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the 3M22 Zircon can fly 1,000 kilometers at speeds of up to Mach 9. Originally developed as a ship-launched missile, the Zircon has been adapted for ground launch, according to Russian military statements.

Russia has used the Zircon in attacks, according to Ukrainian officials. They claim some have been shot down using U.S. Patriot anti-missile batteries.

China has developed the YKJ-1000 missile, which Beijing says surpassed Mach 7 during tests last year. It has a range of up to 1,300 kilometers, Chinese officials say. The developer, Lingkong Tianxing Technology, says the missile can be mass produced for “one-tenth” the price of most missiles.

Also, the hypersonic Changjian-1000, or “long sword,” was shown off in its launch container at a military parade in Beijing in 2025.

From left, U.S. Army Capt. Alexander Vahadji, of 7th Infantry Division; Adm. Samuel J. Paparo, commander of U.S. Pacific Command; and Lt. Col. Alexander Mullin, 7th ID, observe soldiers training in June with the Dark Eagle Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon during exercise Valiant Shield. The Army on July 21, 2026, said the Dark Eagle was deployed on Guam at the time. (Brandon Rickert/U.S. Army)

The U.S. is working on hypersonic missiles and has test-fired the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), called the Dark Eagle. It’s an intermediate-range surface-to-surface boost-glide hypersonic weapon.

But the U.S. is behind its peer adversaries in developing air-breathing hypersonic cruise missiles that can fly low and weave through defenses. The U.S. has the Tomahawk cruise missile, but it flies at subsonic speeds, with a top mark of about 885 kilometers per hour.

The RFI suggests the successful entrant would need to beat the performance of current weapons by significant levels.

“This demonstrator must establish the foundation for a next-generation capability that delivers a revolutionary leap in operational performance — specifically in range, cruise speed and/or altitude,” DARPA said

The RFI says that though scramjet technology has been proven, the current development is too slow and expensive.

“Existing concepts often achieve predictable, incremental gains in isolated performance metrics, representing evolutionary improvements rather than the disruptive capabilities required for future conflicts,” the RFI says. “Furthermore, legacy manufacturing processes often result in systems that are too expensive and complex to produce at the scale required for peer conflict.”

At the center of the request is technology using a scramjet — a supersonic combustion ramjet that burns fuel while the air flowing through the engine is faster than the speed of sound. It uses the engine’s extreme forward speed to compress incoming air, then injects fuel into the high-speed airflow. It has no moving parts such as turbines or compressors.

The RFI asks companies to address missile design, launch platforms and production/price.

The new missile should be able to make mid-course maneuvers, have a smaller heat and radar signature, and have “survivability” against anti-missile defense systems. The possibilities include air-launch from bombers or fighters and vertical ground launch.

Proposals should have “the ability to scale to different missions,” and distances from 250 to 2,000 nautical miles.

The RFI says that DARPA wants to be able to test the new missile on an “optimized, accelerated schedule” instead of “relying on traditional, sluggish acquisition models.”

“DARPA strongly encourages responses to this RFI from non-traditional defense contractors and emerging technology developers,” the RFI states.

Testing should be able to be done with “fewer observable indicators” that could be seen by other nations.