Eying adversaries, U.S. military is spending $15 billion over 10 years on hypersonic weapons development
WASHINGTON – In 2017, China started showing first images of the tests of their hypersonic glide vehicles, and in 2018, Russian president Vladimir Putin presented new hypersonic armaments being developed for the Russian army. Both countries have since claimed their respective weapons having at least initial operational capability. And quite frankly, it scared the pants off Pentagon planners. Asia Times reports. Continue reading original article
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
19 April 2021 -- Whether America really needed hypersonic weapons, is irrelevant. Yet the thought that one hypersonic missile — without a warhead — could tear through a U.S. aircraft carrier at Mach 5 was enough to terrify American war planners in the Pentagon.
The U.S. now has 70 different hypersonic weapon programs costing $15 billion from 2015 and 2024. The effort peaked in 2020, when $2.5 billion were spent on such weapons. It also was the first year when more money was allocated to product development than technology development, signifying a switch from research to more production-oriented goals.
The largest contributor is the Pentagon, with the U.S. Navy the main participant of those programs, with $6.2 billion. The Air Force comes in second wit $3.6 billion to hypersonic weapons development. Most projects focus on hypersonic glide vehicles.
John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics
