The U.S. Air Force’s X-51 Wave Rider (X-51A Waverider), which is flying at hypersonic speeds.
Tensions in Taiwan and Ukraine have raised international concerns about whether the U.S., China and the U.S. and Russia will engage in armed conflict. To ensure continued U.S. superiority on the battlefield, the Pentagon has launched a modernization strategy for hypersonic systems, including a comprehensive “layered defeat” strategy to counter Russian and Chinese hypersonic weapons, Defense Department officials said.
The strategy is being implemented across the U.S. military’s naval, land and air forces, as well as the Missile Defense Agency and Space Development Agency.
Michael E. White, principal for hypersonic technology in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, emphasized the importance of modernizing the U.S. military’s hypersonic systems, according to a May 3 press release on the U.S. Department of Defense website.
Hypersonic speeds include systems that travel at speeds approaching and exceeding Mach 5 (5 times the speed of sound), White said. But it’s not just about speed; the Defense Department combines these speeds with aerodynamically controlled vehicles for long-range flight and unpredictable maneuverability against adversaries in the atmosphere at 80,000 and 200,000 altitudes.
That’s the combination of speed, maneuverability and altitude that can defeat heavily defended, high-value targets, he added.
Chinese, Russian Development of High-Strike Capable Weapons Pose Challenge to U.S.
For more than a decade, White said, China and Russia have been rapidly developing high-strike capability systems to challenge U.S. dominance on the tactical battlefield (tactical battlefield).
These systems include anti-ship cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, as well as hypersonic missiles developed to threaten U.S. aircraft carriers in the second island chain. This poses a significant challenge to traditional U.S. weapons systems.
White added that hypersonic capabilities are so important. the 2017 U.S. defense strategy identifies the need for the Department of Defense to shock and, if necessary, defeat America’s great power rivals, China (Communist China) and Russia.
White also said U.S. adversaries are increasingly focused on systems that significantly compress tactical battlefield timelines and timescales. These systems include ballistic missiles, ballistic missiles with maneuvering re-entry vehicles, and hypersonic vehicles of an increasingly advanced nature that give adversaries the ability to put our forces at risk from hundreds or even thousands of miles away. This superiority of the adversary on the battlefield cannot be allowed to exist by the United States.
Pentagon Deploys Comprehensive Response Strategy
To address these challenges, White said, the Defense Department has developed a hypersonic modernization strategy that accelerates the development and delivery of transformational warfighting capabilities based on hypersonic systems.
This strategy includes long-range response strikes against time-sensitive, high-value targets, and the U.S. is deploying a range of air-, land- and sea-launched, conventionally armed hypersonic strike weapons, White added.
“To defend against an adversary’s hypersonic weapons, we are providing a comprehensive layered defeat strategy that applies kinetic and non-kinetic defensive capabilities to deter, degrade and defeat these weapons at every possible point in their kill chain.” White said, “We will also develop technologies to mature reusable hypersonic systems for future application in time-sensitive ‘intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance’ missions as well as strike missions.”
The DoD strategy is being put in place in a coordinated set of programs across the services and agencies, the release said. White said the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Army, Navy, Air Force, Missile Defense Agency, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Space Development Agency and Office of Strategic Capabilities are working to develop capabilities for multiple phases of this strategy.
White added that the U.S. is also working with allies to develop and eventually produce hypersonic missiles that are compatible with fighter platforms when appropriate.
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