Northrop Grumman chosen over Raytheon to pursue hypersonic missile interceptor

CHANDLER, AZ — Northrop Grumman’s Chandler operation has been selected by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to move ahead with production of a new missile that will be able to knock out hypersonic threats in midair.

Winning the award means Northrop Grumman is now the sole company working on the project to build the Glide Phase Interceptor, or GPI, which will be able to stop hypersonic weapons while they are in the glide phase, which is the middle portion of their flight en route to targets.

Up until now, Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) was working concurrently with Tucson-based Raytheon division of RTX Corp (NYSE: RTX) on the project, with both companies winning contract enhancements in June 2022 and Northrop Grumman receiving another one in March 2023. The early round of contracts back in 2021 also involved Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT).

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