The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is advancing a new initiative to demonstrate the ability to track and intercept hypersonic missiles. Called Project Maverick, the effort aims to deliver a provisional defense layer while more advanced technologies mature.

According to the MDA’s latest budget request, the demonstration is scheduled to take place as early as fiscal year 2027. It will involve a hypersonic glide vehicle flying up the US East Coast.

US aims for ‘additional layer’ of defense

For the upcoming demonstration flight, the MDA plans to use multi-phenomenology remote elevated sensor data—likely combining air- and space-based platforms—to track a demonstration target. Operators will use a tactical battle management system, leveraging offboard sensor information, to direct a test interceptor vehicle toward the simulated threat.

“Project Maverick provides a developmental test event opportunity to demonstrate capabilities across the kill chain, and successfully demonstrated capabilities would supplement current and future defense architectures,” MDA Director Lt. Gen. Heath Collins explained in written testimony to the House Armed Services Committee.

If successful, Project Maverick could yield an interim counter-hypersonic weapon. It would provide crucial capabilities, enabling the US to bridge the gap until its Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI) enters service in the early 2030s.

The GPI program, awarded to Northrop Grumman in 2024, is a ship-launched system capable of engaging maneuvering hypersonic glide vehicles in the atmosphere. Collins noted in his written testimony that current defenses are limited to terminal-phase intercepts. This involves engaging missiles during the final, re-entry stage of their flight. It is the last opportunity to destroy a hypersonic weapon, meaning the risk of failure and the stakes are much higher.

As Collins noted, GPI represents the future of hypersonic defense. It “will bring a capability to reach out and give you an additional layer of capability to help thin the herd and increase the performance against that really tough threat,” he added.

Intercepting Mach 5 hypersonic weapons in space

Hypersonic weapons, traveling at speeds of Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound) and above with unpredictable maneuvers, pose significant challenges to traditional missile defenses. Both China and Russia have developed and tested such systems, prompting the Pentagon to accelerate both offensive hypersonic programs and defensive countermeasures.

The MDA’s budget documents do not specify exact funding for Maverick. However, as a report from DefenseScoop pointed out, it will be funded under the agency’s new Low-Cost Defeat initiative. That initiative is funding multiple efforts to develop affordable technologies against hypersonic and other high-speed threats.

The MDA is also pursuing the Low-Cost Interceptor (LCI), with a prototype demonstration planned for 2028. In his testimony, Collins described LCI as an effort to field affordable, high-volume interceptors.

If all goes to plan, Project Maverick’s 2027 demonstration test could advance the US’s efforts towards an operational layered defense. Amid growing geopolitical tensions, this would provide a temporary defense layer against highly advanced missile systems.