Raytheon has been awarded a $174 million U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency contract for the Hypersonic Air-Breathing Weapon Concept program.

The cost-plus-fixed-fee deal will cover an undisclosed research project for the program.

DARPA is the contracting entity.

The program is a joint DARPA-U.S. Air Force initiative to develop technologies that would lead to an effective and affordable air-launched hypersonic cruise missile.

Such demonstrations aim to pave the way to new, responsive, long-range strike capabilities against time-critical or heavily defended targets.

The program places a premium on affordable, rapid and efficient flight tests to validate the key technologies.