Hypersonic Weapons: DOD Should Clarify Roles and Responsibilities to Ensure Coordination across Development Efforts

Abstract

Hypersonic weapons fly at least 5 times the speed of sound, have unpredictable flight paths, and are expected to be very difficult to defend against. The Department of Defense is developing hypersonic weapons and technologies with support from other agencies. These projects are expected to cost almost $15 billion from FYs 2015-2024. NASA and the Department of Energy have agreements with DOD on their supporting roles in developing the technology. Within DOD, development efforts are ongoing at dozens of organizations. To ensure coordinated leadership, we recommended that DOD better define and document roles and responsibilities for these efforts.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 22, 2021
Accession Number
AD1163106

Entities

People

  • Jon Ludwigson

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Counter WMD
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Air Force
  • Air Launched
  • Booster Rocket Engines
  • Congress
  • Conventional Prompt Strike
  • Department Of Defense
  • Engineering
  • Governments
  • House Of Representatives
  • Hypersonic Cruise Missiles
  • Hypersonic Glide Vehicles
  • Hypersonic Missiles
  • Hypersonic Weapons
  • National Security
  • Product Development
  • Prompt Global Strike
  • Prototypes
  • Resource Management
  • Rockets
  • Teamwork
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Test Facilities
  • United States Government
  • Wind Tunnels

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Dynamics.
  • Government Contracting/Procurement.
  • Strategic Security Studies

Technology Areas

  • Hypersonics
  • Space