OCCAR and MBDA sign HYDIS² concept phase contract

OCCAR and MBDA have launched the HYDIS² concept phase. (MBDA)

The Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) and MBDA announced on 15 May that they signed a European Defence Fund (EDF) grant agreement and a linked procurement contract to launch the three-year HYpersonic Defence Interceptor Study (HYDIS²) concept phase on the same day. MBDA signed the agreements on behalf of the 19 industrial partners in HYDIS². In its press release, OCCAR valued the programme at EUR140 million (USD152 million), EUR80 million of which is co-funded by the EDF.

The concept phase aims to mature critical technologies focusing on the operational requirements of participating countries France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, which will support the selection of a concept afterwards and will contribute to MBDA's Aquila counter-hypersonic interceptor concept. Another aim of the concept phase is to create an industrial network to develop future counter-hypersonic missile systems.

An MBDA spokesperson told Janes on 16 May that HYDIS² will assess various architectures related to different interception strategies and weapon-system footprints in order to deliver a single concept to demonstrate and mature to technical readiness level (TRL) 6 in the next phase. The concept phase will select the most suitable counter-hypersonic and anti-ballistic interceptor concept for European countries' requirements, with the associated weapon system architecture to prepare an assessment and technology demonstration phase, aiming at an in-service date around 2035.

The MBDA spokesperson said the assessment and technology demonstration phase would begin in 2026 and last until at least 2029–30, followed by the design and manufacturing phase to deliver an initial capability no earlier than 2035.