JUST IN: Supply Chain Can’t Support DoD’s Hypersonics Goals, Report Finds
5/11/2023
By Josh Luckenbaugh
NDIA illustration
The Defense Department is investing heavily in the development of hypersonic weapons, but a clearer demand signal to industry is needed to develop a sufficient supply chain and subsequently field these systems, according to a new report released May 11.
Hypersonic weapons can fly at least five times the speed of sound, or Mach 5, allowing them to “deliver long-range lethal effects on short time scales,” said the Emerging Technologies Institute’s report “Hypersonics Supply Chains: Securing the Path to the Future.” ETI is an affiliate of the National Defense Industrial Association.
“American development of hypersonic capabilities is nonnegotiable,” said Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., during the report’s launch event on May 11. “This is a technology that was born in America but is being perfected by China and Russia.”
Congress appropriated nearly $6 billion for hypersonics in the fiscal year 2023 defense budget, according to the ETI report. Department leadership has said the United States needs hundreds of hypersonics “in a short period of time,” and potentially even thousands or tens of thousands, the report said. However, “the existing hypersonic manufacturing base and testing infrastructure is insufficient to meet the needs of the future,” the report said.
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2023/5/11/just-in-current-supply-chain-cant-support-dods-hypersonics-goals-report-finds
