Missile Defense Agency looks to demo hypersonic weapon interceptor in 2027

The Missile Defense Agency is planning to deliver a provisional capability to defend against hypersonic weapons in the near term as it continues development of more advanced systems.

Under a new effort dubbed “Project Maverick,” MDA intends to conduct a flight test of a defensive system to prove the agency’s ability to track and defeat hypersonic missiles in fiscal 2027, according to the organization’s latest budget request. If the demonstration is a success, the resulting capability could serve as an interim counter-hypersonics capability until more advanced systems are fielded.

According to budget documents, MDA will conduct the test along the east coast of the U.S. that leverages “multi-phenomenology remote elevated sensor data” to track and defeat a hypersonic platform. A tactical battle management system is expected to use offboard data to direct the test vehicle to the target during the demo.

“Project Maverick provides a developmental test event opportunity to demonstrate capabilities across the kill chain, and successfully demonstrated capabilities would supplement current and future defense architectures,” MDA Director Lt. Gen. Heath Collins said in written testimony to the House Armed Services Committee in April.

While MDA’s FY27 budget request did not detail exactly how much it plans to spend on Project Maverick, it did note that the test flight will be funded under the agency’s new Low-Cost Defeat initiative that includes multiple efforts broadly aimed at developing technologies that can intercept hypersonic weapons and other high-speed threats.

The Defense Department has raced to develop multiple types of operational hypersonic missiles, as well as capabilities to defeat adversary systems. The weapons are able to fly at speeds of Mach 5 or greater and can maneuver unpredictably during flight, making them difficult for air defense systems to track and intercept. 

MDA’s main program to defend against hypersonics is the Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI) — a ship-launched missile that will be able to destroy incoming hypersonic glide vehicles while they are maneuvering through the atmosphere.

Northrop Grumman was selected as the prime contractor for GPI in 2024. While the program’s timeline has fluctuated considerably in recent years, Collins told the HASC Strategic Forces subcommittee in April that reconciliation funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill put the program back on track to deliver in 2031.

“Glide Phase Interceptor really is the future of hypersonic missile defense for the nation. Today, we have terminal defense capabilities only — i.e., the very endgame defense capabilities against hypersonic missile targets,” Collins told lawmakers. “GPI will bring a capability to reach out and give you an additional layer of capability to help thin the herd and increase the performance against that really tough threat.”

Along with Project Maverick, MDA is also seeking funds in FY27 for the rapid design, testing and demonstration of another counter-hypersonic system called the Low-Cost Interceptor (LCI). Collins told HASC in April that the effort aims to prove out an affordable interceptor that can be built and fielded in high volumes. An LCI prototype demonstration is slated for 2028.

The push to more quickly develop and deliver counter-hypersonic systems is likely spurred on by President Donald Trump’s ongoing Golden Dome project. The program is intended to create a sprawling architecture of sensors, weapons and command-and-control nodes across domains to create a missile defense shield over the continental United States.