Hypersonic Weapons: Identifying a Way Forward.

• Author: Senesac, Andrew
• Position: Policy Points

* Hypersonic weapons cover great distances quickly, dramatically shrinking the shooter-to-target timeline. Their maneuverability and speed make them highly survivable against traditional missile defenses.

Russia has invested greatly in hypersonics. Having wisely identified these weapons as valuable to their defense strategy, China beat the United States--until recently the undisputed leader in hypersonic technology--to an operational hypersonic weapon. The People's Liberation Army's DF-ZF hypersonic glide vehicle, mounted on a DF-17 ballistic missile, reportedly has a range of up to 2,400 kilometers.

Indecision from policymakers left the U.S. defense enterprise scrambling to catch up, rushing to assemble the infrastructure and skilled workforce needed to do so. The volume of projects has stretched available resources. Why did the nation fall behind despite alarm bells and statements from experts about the importance of hypersonics?

A failure to decide that hypersonic weapons were a needed capability created an environment disadvantageous to their development. Interest in the technology came in fits and starts, creating peaks and troughs of resources. Programs came and went. Without a stable resource and programmatic environment, the requisite investment of infrastructure and human capital couldn't exist.

Gillian Bussey, director of the Defense Department's joint hypersonics transition office, said: "Ten years ago, the government was considering closing wind tunnels, and academic researchers avoided mentioning hypersonics in their proposals in order to secure funding. Today, many wind tunnels, including some of those slated for decommissioning, are booked solid for years."

The present testing infrastructure for hypersonics is inadequate and sluggish. Wind tunnels are overscheduled, planning tests requires a mammoth bureaucratic effort, and the culture of testing has shifted away from learning to proving. What's more, too often test failures are unrelated to the very technology being tested. To get operational hypersonic weapons, we need to energize our testing enterprise.

Richard P. Hallion, a noted aerospace historian and hypersonics advocate, said current testing culture must change.

"We must as well move beyond the idea of test as demonstration and embrace test as a process and profession in which legitimate risk of failure is acceptable. We didn't get to this point in hypersonics by being timid, and neither have the Russians and...