Ursa Major has announced a new hypersonic weapon concept it calls the HAVOC Missile System, describing it as a medium-range design intended for production in larger quantities than other high-end hypersonic efforts and adaptable across air, land, and sea launch platforms.
HAVOC: scalable, cross-domain missile
The Colorado-based propulsion company says HAVOC is built around its Draper engine, a storable liquid rocket engine that can be throttled and restarted during flight. Ursa Major says that restart and throttle flexibility could enable different flight profiles compared to one-and-done solid motors and reduce some of the cost and design penalties associated with hypersonic thermal protection.
Ursa Major claims the missile can operate endo-atmospheric or exo-atmospheric and be paired with different boosters, with the stated aim of enabling integration on a broad set of launchers, including fighters and bombers, ground-based launchers, and shipboard vertical launch systems.
Ursa Major has not released concrete figures for range, speed, payload, or a customer-backed timeline. The company is circulating an aggressive unit-cost ambition, targeting an all-up-round price below $3 million.
“Mass” over exquisite weapons
HAVOC is the latest in a growing set of industry pitches aimed at bridging the gap between high-end long-range weapons and the need for deeper stockpiles, a theme also visible in lower-cost strike concepts such as Kratos’ Ragnarök cruise missile proposal.