Intended to meet the US Navy’s Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare Increment 2 requirement, HALO has been conceived as a carrier-suitable, long-range, high-speed anti-surface weapon system. The navy wants HALO to be fielded no later than FY29 to meet Early Operational Capability (EOC) requirements and no later than FY31 to meet Initial Operational Capability (IOC) requirements.
Lockheed Martin’s air-launched AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) has already been introduced to service to meet the OASuW Increment 1 requirement. However, LRASM flies at subsonic speed, which limits the ability of the weapon to engage targets at range in a timely manner.
Raytheon and Lockheed Martin were in March this year each awarded parallel Phase 1 HALO contracts by NAVAIR. Lasting 21 months, these awards are funding technical maturation and development, up to a December 2024 preliminary design review, of the propulsion system required for a carrier-suitable hypersonic weapon system. The intention, according to NAVAIR, is to leveraging science and technology investments in critical technologies, and rapid prototyping approaches, in order to support an aggressive schedule execution
In a pre-solicitation notice posted on 10 July, NAVAIR’s Precision Strike Weapons Program Office (PMA-201) said it plans to conduct a full and open competition for an EMD phase that will see the selected contractor “incrementally design, develop, and test [the HALO] weapon system in accordance with performance requirements to support deployment”. NAVAIR added that it anticipates awarding a cost-plus-incentive-fee contract.
Although final EMD requirements will be formalised under a request for proposals currently planned for release in the first or second quarter of FY24, the scope of the tasking is expected to include design and development of the HALO All-Up-Round, systems engineering, program management, and test and evaluation support through to Operational Test. EMD will also include activities associated with transitioning the HALO system to production, and delivery of test assets in support of EOC and IOC.
While HALO is initially intended to be integrated on the US Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighter, the navy has acknowledged that it is already giving consideration to other launch platforms.
To learn more about HALO, check out Naval News’ Interview with Rear Admiral Steve Tedford, the U.S. Navy’s Program Executive Officer for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons (PEO U&W) during the Navy League’s Sea Air Space 2023 maritime exposition:
