Pentagon’s Testing for $12.6 Billion in Hypersonics Under Review
- Inspector general is checking adequacy of on-ground testing
- ‘We can test something into oblivion,’ defense official warns
A common hypersonic glide body (C-HGB) launches from Pacific Missile Range Facility during a Department of Defense flight experiment in Kauai, Hawaii, U.S. on March 19.
Photographer: U.S. Navy Photo
The Pentagon’s inspector general is evaluating whether the Defense Department and military services have adequate ground testing, evaluation facilities and specialized chambers to support the U.S.’s spending surge on hypersonic weapons that fly faster than five times the speed of sound.
The review, begun this month, is focused on the existing infrastructure for ground testing of the new weapons, not on their capabilities or on eventual flight tests on outdoor ranges. Hypersonics were elevated to the Pentagon’s top research and development program in 2017 as China and Russia move ahead with the agile new weapons, but until now the U.S. effort has been limited to two early flight demonstrations.