Hypersonix receives MMI defence grant

Hypersonix Launch Systems was granted A$ 8 million for the DART AE Multi-mission Hypersonic Drone Technology Demonstrator using Additive Engineering.

Last month, the Australian Federal Government announced the successful applicants for the Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI) Defence Translation stream.

Since the first official announcement by Hypersonix to develop DART AE in November 2021, the global interest in the Australian company has grown.

Key factors for Hypersonix technology being demonstrated by DART AE are scalability of manufacture, reliability, cost-effectiveness and high cadence of manufacture, enabling multiple low-cost launches in a short time frame.

In addition, the recently announced A$2.95 million Cooperative Research Centres Projects grant from the Australian federal government (awarded to Hypersonix and its partners in late March 2022) for the re-usable high-temperature composite version of DART, DART CMP, builds on the successful completion of the Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resource’s Accelerating Commercialisation Grant for the build of a prototype scramjet engine and fuel system, completed in March 2022.

David Waterhouse, MD and Co-Founder of Hypersonix, said, “The MMI grant will provide a catalyst to our growth in Australia and ability to grow Australia’s export market in this key area of Aerospace technology.”

Michael Smart, CTO, Head of R&D and Co-Founder, added, “It gives us the necessary funding to quickly progress our core scramjet technology that has been fully developed in Australia.”