Report on U.S. Hyper-Sonic Weapon Development

[Boats]

Report on U.S. Hyper-Sonic Weapon Development
By: USNI News - 03-07-20
Re: https://news.usni.org/2020/03/06/rep...sian%20systems.

Personal note: I've been reading up on these Hype-sonic Weapons and it seem China and Russia are both ahead of the US and have been testing them successfully. So I wanted to know how the US is on its own hyper-sonic weapon programs.

The following is the March 4, 2020 Congressional Research Service report Hyper-sonic Weapons: Background and Issues for Congress

From the report:

The United States has actively pursued the development of hyper-sonic weapons—maneuvering weapons that fly at speeds of at least Mach 5—as a part of its conventional prompt global strike program since the early 2000's. In recent years, the United States has focused such efforts on developing hyper-sonic glide vehicles, which are launched from a rocket before gliding to a target, and hyper-sonic cruise missiles, which are powered by high-speed, air-breathing engines during flight. As Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former Commander of U.S. Strategic Command General John Hyten has stated, these weapons could enable “responsive, long-range, strike options against distant, defended, and/or time-critical threats [such as road-mobile missiles] when other forces are unavailable, denied access, or not preferred.” Critics, on the other hand, contend that hyper-sonic weapons lack defined mission requirements, contribute little to U.S. military capability, and are unnecessary for deterrence.

It seems Funding for Hyper-Sonic Weapons has been relatively restrained in the past; however, both the Pentagon and Congress have shown a growing interest in pursuing the development and near-term deployment of hyper-sonic systems. This is due, in part, to the growing interest in these technologies in Russia and China, both of which have a number of hyper-sonic weapons programs and are expected to field an operational hyper-sonic glide vehicle—potentially armed with nuclear warheads—as early as 2020. The United States, in contrast to Russia and China, is not currently considering or developing hyper-sonic weapons for use with a nuclear warhead. As a result, U.S. hyper-sonic weapons will likely require greater accuracy and will be more technically challenging to develop than nuclear-armed Chinese and Russian systems.

The Pentagon’s FY2021 budget request for all hyper-sonic-related research is $3.2 billion—up from $2.6 billion in the FY2020 request—including $206.8 million for hyper-sonic defense programs. At present, the Department of Defense (DOD) has not established any programs of record for hyper-sonic weapons, suggesting that it may not have approved either requirements for the systems or long-term funding plans. Indeed, as Assistant Director for Hyper-sonics (Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering) Mike White has stated, DOD has not yet made a decision to acquire hyper-sonic weapons and is instead developing prototypes to assist in the evaluation of potential weapon system concepts and mission sets.

As Congress reviews the Pentagon’s plans for U.S. hyper-sonic weapons programs, it might consider questions about the rationale for hyper-sonic weapons, their expected costs, and their implications for strategic stability and arms control. Potential questions include the following:

* What mission(s) will hyper-sonic weapons be used for? Are hyper-sonic weapons the most cost-effective means of executing these potential missions? How will they be incorporated into joint operational doctrine and concepts?

* Given the lack of defined mission requirements for hyper-sonic weapons, how should Congress evaluate funding requests for hyper-sonic weapons programs or the balance of funding requests for hyper-sonic weapons programs, enabling technologies, and supporting test infrastructure? Is an acceleration of research on hyper-sonic weapons, enabling technologies, or hyper-sonic missile defense options both necessary and technologically feasible?

* How, if at all, will the fielding of hyper-sonic weapons affect strategic stability?

* Is there a need for risk-mitigation measures, such as expanding New START, negotiating new multilateral arms control agreements, or undertaking transparency and confidence-building activities?

On this site there is a 26 page Congressional Reseach Service - Report
https://crsreports.congress.gov R45811 (not sure if this link will open it) but you can read all the test directly on site and read up on it if interested - Boats)

Re: Congressional research service, CRS, Hyper-Sonic, Navy, US Air force, us navy
Categories: Aviation, Budget Industry, Documents, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy

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Personal note: From reading data reports on both China and Russian testing - it seems they may be well beyond the US (since funding has been limited towards advancing our own weapons capabilities on this subject).

These hyper-sonic missiles can hit any incoming non-hyper-sonic missile quicker and prevent those impacts on hitting their targets or lands. Not only hit missile's but can hit a target at sea or in the air almost instantaneously. Scary isn't it. Let's hope our folks are alot further along then we are being told. We are building proto-types currently to learn more about them while Russia and China are way ahead of our abilities to knock these hyper-sonic incoming missiles down. Scary isn't.
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*But remember we have a Wall - and they don't!*

Boats