The Department of Defense (DOD) has teamed up with the Norwegian Ministry of Defense to build a high-speed propulsion technology that could support hypersonic and supersonic weapons.
The partnership is a part of the Tactical High-speed Offensive Ramjet for Extended Range (THOR-ER) program, an initiative that seeks to develop and update solid fuel ramjet technologies into full-size prototypes that could reach extended ranges and high speeds, DOD said Wednesday.
Col. Corey Beaverson, director of mission prototypes at the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, said the program also aims to inform potential ramjet co-production efforts.
The U.S. Navy's Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division will work with Nammo Group and the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment to explore technologies that are viable for high-speed weaponry.
THOR-ER began in 2019 and is expected to wrap up in 2024. Ramjets are propulsion systems that compress the air for combustion by utilizing a missile's forward motion.
