Bringing hypersonics research and development to the fore

DMTC is leading a new collaborative program to identify, analyse and test high temperature materials as a first step toward the future development of sovereign hypersonic aerostructures.

Hypersonic aerostructures are components of an aircraft’s airframe capable of withstanding extreme conditions experienced during hypersonic flight (as much as five times faster than the speed of sound), including high heat loads. In consequence, the development of hypersonic materials has farreaching and important defence and national security applications.

The first project, named Hype-X, will initially focus on the applicability of existing high-temperature materials for the manufacture of hypersonic aerostructures and provide Defence with a database of carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) material characteristics under various conditions applicable to high-speed vehicles. A CFRP database promises exciting opportunities to leverage stored material characteristics information for use in the design of future high-speed vehicles. The project will then seek to develop novel materials and manufacturing processes to fill capability gaps.

The collaborative team working on this project includes DSTG, Quickstep Holdings Ltd and the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Under the project, Quickstep will obtain commercialisation rights to any newly developed intellectual property (IP), with the IP ownership retained beneficially for Australia’s sovereign defence capability by DMTC.

This partnership with Quickstep, a company well known for its advanced composite aircraft structures, and technical experts from DSTG and UNSW is further evidence of DMTC’s capacity to bring together expertise from across the nation’s leading defence R&D organisations for the benefit of Australia’s sovereign industrial capability.