The Need for Speed: An Exploration of the U.S. Army Acquisition Strategy for Hypersonic Weapons

Abstract

Hypersonic missiles are not new to the United States; this technology existed since the late 1940s. Hypersonics is one of the highest modernization priorities in the Army's long range precision fires portfolio in support of multi-domain operations due to adversarial Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) threats. However, developing hypersonic technologies with maneuverability, unpredictable trajectories, and high altitude have yet to be achieved. The need for hypersonic speed is imperative with these features for military weapons because of the challenge to defend and detect. Due to the complexity of the technology, hypersonic weapons are also challenging to develop. The United States, Russia, China, and other countries are investing significant resources in Research and Development for these missiles (Chiriac, 2020). Since 2009, the former Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (OSD (AT and L)) funded technology development and flight test demonstrations of hypersonic boost-glide technologies through the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) Defense-Wide Account. In July 2018, OSD (AT and L) reorganized and the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering OSD (R and E) and the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment OSD (A and S) were established. The OSD (A and S) managed the funding for hypersonic development and OSD (R and E) managed the technology development activities. These technology demonstration activities reached a level of maturity that allows the development of hypersonic weapons based on the OSD-developed glide body design. The Army, as well as other agencies, are developing weapon systems based on this OSD design. The Army must develop an acquisition strategy to deliver this hypersonic capability to the Warfighter (Congress, 2016).

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 30, 2023
Accession Number
AD1201836

Entities

People

  • Nita Clark

Organizations

  • Defense Acquisition University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Launched
  • Aircrafts
  • Army Procurement
  • Boost Glide Vehicles
  • Conventional Prompt Strike
  • Department Of Defense
  • Governments
  • Ground Support Equipment
  • Hypersonic Glide Vehicles
  • Hypersonic Missiles
  • Hypersonic Weapons
  • Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles
  • Military Acquisition
  • Military Science
  • Test And Evaluation
  • United States
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering.
  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Missile Defense Systems.

Technology Areas

  • Hypersonics