US Ready to Wreak HAVOC at Hypersonic Speed

Source: URSA Major

Ursa Major has unveiled the HAVOC Missile System, a modular hypersonic weapon designed for rapid production, affordability, and large-scale deployment to meet urgent warfighter needs. Powered by the company’s Draper liquid rocket engine, HAVOC emphasizes lower cost and supply-chain resilience compared to traditional air-breathing hypersonic systems.

The missile can throttle and restart during flight, operate both inside and outside the atmosphere, and integrate with multiple launch platforms—including fighters, bombers, vertical launch systems, and ground launchers. Building on Ursa Major’s prior hypersonic engine flight heritage and work with the Air Force Research Laboratory, HAVOC aims to deliver scalable, next-generation hypersonic capability aligned with US defense modernization priorities. Ursa Major writes:

DENVER — Feb 24, 2026 — Unveiled today is the “Ursa Major HAVOC Missile System,” a complete hypersonic capability designed to deliver high-speed, affordable mass at scale to meet urgent warfighter requirements, with a core module that can also be used for hypersonic targets.  HAVOC is engineered for rapid production and scalability, addressing the growing need for optionality in survivable, maneuverable hypersonic systems that can be fielded in operationally relevant quantities.

Ursa Major’s HAVOC missile system is powered by the Company’s Draper engine, a safe, storable, and tactical liquid rocket engine, which costs a fraction of airbreathing alternatives. Beyond the engine, Ursa Major achieves affordability of the system using advanced additive manufacturing, innovative design, and modern production processes.

“Keeping pace with our adversaries requires more than exquisite systems, it requires speed to delivery, affordability, and the ability to build at scale,” said Chris Spagnoletti, CEO of Ursa Major. “The Ursa Major HAVOC Missile System delivers a highly capable hypersonic weapon designed from the start to be produced rapidly and in quantity, giving the warfighter a credible and adaptable capability.”

HAVOC can be programmed to throttle and restart throughout all phases of flight, providing capabilities beyond hypersonic boost glide and cruise missile systems.  Additionally, this capability eliminates the need for expensive thermal protection systems to achieve the affordability and ensure the robust supply chain the nation needs.

HAVOC is multi-domain; the system can operate endo- or exo-atmospherically and eliminates the restrictions and high cost of airbreathing alternatives. The highly modular approach enables integration with various solid rocket motor boosters to enable launch from a wide range of platforms, including fighters, bombers, vertical launch systems, or ground-based launchers with extended range options.

Ursa Major brings more than a decade of hypersonic development, production, and flight heritage to the HAVOC Missile System. The company’s Hadley liquid rocket engines have flown hypersonic several times, validating propulsion performance under real flight conditions and supporting U.S. hypersonic superiority. Ursa Major has also demonstrated the ability to design and build complete vehicles and all-up rounds through the Affordable Rapid Missile Demonstrator program with the Air Force Research Laboratory, which is on track to fly soon.

HAVOC represents a highly capable, next-generation hypersonic missile capability designed to meet the demands of today’s threat environment and the evolving needs of the joint force. The system directly aligns with multiple Department of War hypersonic priorities, including rapid design, build, test, and learn approaches; reducing the cost of hypersonic systems while increasing industrial capacity to build warfighting inventories; and identifying, developing, and demonstrating next-generation capabilities.

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