The Air Force has given a $2.7 million award to SpaceDev—the outfit that provided the rocket motor for SpaceShipOne—to develop a large hybrid rocket motor that can produce about 100,000 pounds of thrust. A prototype motor is to be test fired next year. Oh, the 100K thrust is about nine times the capability of the SpaceShipOne motor.
A combined Navy and Air Force program is seeking to build a smaller version of a ubiquitous air-to-air missile that could give advanced aircraft, such as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, greater magazine depth in a high-end fight.