Hypersonic Weapons Industrial Base Under Review.

* WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The Pentagon is developing a strategy to ensure the defense industrial base has sufficient capacity to produce hypersonic weapons, according to a department official.

Hypersonic missiles can travel at speeds of Mach 5 or faster and are highly maneuverable, making them difficult for an enemy to defeat. The capability is the Defense Department's No. 1 research-and-development priority as it competes with Russia and China, which have their own hypersonics programs.

"We need to make sure that we're rightsizing industry to the level that we need it to be for these systems," said Christine Michienzi, director of assessments, policy and industry outreach in the office of the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment.

The new strategy is being developed by the technology and manufacturing industrial base office, she said July 30 at NDIA's Hypersonic Capabilities Conference in West Lafayette, Indiana.

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