The United Kingdom is accelerating its push to develop cutting-edge hypersonic missile technology, awarding a £12 million contract to a consortium led by Warrington-based engineering firm Amentum UK. The deal marks a significant step in the government’s effort to establish a sovereign capability to produce weapons capable of traveling at speeds exceeding Mach 5—five times the speed of sound.
Joining Amentum in the initiative are two specialist subcontractors: Ebeni, based in Wiltshire, and London-based Synthetik. Together, the team will provide critical engineering expertise to refine the design of a hypersonic system. The project will progress through flight testing phases, ultimately aiming to produce prototype missiles engineered to withstand the extreme speeds and thermal stresses characteristic of hypersonic flight.
This investment aligns directly with findings from the recent Strategic Defence Review (SDR), which identified hypersonic missiles as a vital component of modern warfare. By building an indigenous ability to produce these long-range, precision-guided weapons, the UK aims to bolster its own national defense while reinforcing NATO’s collective deterrence posture alongside allied nations.
The contract award process itself reflected the government’s commitment to reform defense procurement. Following an invitation to tender, the deal was finalized in just 31 days—a fraction of the traditional timeline. This rapid turnaround was facilitated by the Ministry of Defence’s Commercial X team, a unit tasked with modernizing acquisition processes by cutting bureaucratic red tape and accelerating the delivery of advanced technology to the armed forces.
Defence Minister for Readiness and Industry, Luke Pollard MP, emphasized the dual-purpose nature of the investment. “In this new era of threat, we need a new era for defence,” he stated. “We are making defence an engine for growth. This contract will accelerate the UK’s development of sovereign hypersonic missile capability, strengthen our national security and back British workers.”
The initiative also prioritizes fostering a diverse industrial base. A significant portion of the funding will flow to the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) partners, Ebeni and Synthetik, who were integral to developing the initial solution. The partnership structure includes reverse mentoring arrangements, designed to lower barriers for smaller firms and encourage fluid collaboration across the supply chain. This latest award builds on substantial momentum in the UK’s hypersonics programme since July 2024, during which time 22 contracts, valued at an estimated £48 million, have been issued to 124 suppliers—over half of which are SMEs.
Rupert Pearce, the National Armaments Director, hailed the collaborative model. “This contract represents exactly the kind of innovative partnership approach that the Defence Industrial Strategy demands,” he said, noting that it brings together expertise from defence, large corporations, SMEs, and academia to deliver at an accelerated pace.
Commander Paul Greason, Programme Director for Team Hypersonics (UK), added that the swift commercial action was essential to maintaining challenging timelines, setting the stage for a successful partnership to field a weapons system demonstrator by the end of the decade.
