Exquadrum has concluded its final hot-fire test of the new rocket for the US DARPA Operational Fires (OpFires) system objectives.

This is the second hot-fire test conducted to meet the objectives of DARPA OpFires advanced hypersonic weapon system mission.

The event was conducted for full-duration at the company’s FORGE Rocket Test Facility at the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, California, US.

This latest test is the culmination of Phase 2 of Exquadrum’s $15.1m prime contract secured in September 2018.

Phase 2 of the OpFires weapon system was developed jointly by the team of Exquadrum and Dynetics, Alabama.

Exquadrum CEO Kevin Mahaffy said: “Exquadrum and our partner, Dynetics, are grateful to DARPA for providing us the opportunity to take a highly innovative propulsion technology from idea to full-scale with many of the key components in their flight-like configuration.

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“This technology is now ready to transition to a host of advanced flight applications from hypersonics to traditional rocket booster systems.”

The test programme demonstrated all critical aspects of Exquadrum’s new rocket technology while providing engineering data for future designs.

Exquadrum’s liquid augmented solid motor with diverse energy management capability, was proved ideal for the mission.

The rockets used during the event are beneficial for a variety of hypersonic weapons, missile defence and space lift applications.

Previously, Exquadrum served as the prime contractor on the Force Application and Launch from Continental US (FALCON) programme.

Separately, Dynetics was selected as a prime contractor for the Mobile Force Protection programme.

Dynetics Space Systems vice-president Kim Doering said: “This intensive 19-month development programme has resulted in a detailed propulsion system design with the demonstrated experimental results, proving this innovative technology can meet hypersonic weapons system requirements.

“We are looking ahead to applying this technology to both space and weapon systems.”