Pentagon Boosts Funds for Hypersonic Interceptor to $1.3 Billion

The Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency awarded Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. an additional $475 million to accelerate its effort to counter hypersonic missile threats.

In 2024, the company won a competition to build the Glide Phase Interceptor for the department, nabbing a contract to develop a prototype worth roughly $838 million. But funding cuts plagued the program last year, resulting in a roughly three-year delay to deliver an interceptor capable of taking out a hypersonic missile in the glide phase of flight, a notoriously difficult window where maneuverability and speed complicate detection and interception.

The new allocation using fiscal 2025 reconciliation ...