Hypersonic weapon
The U.S. hypersonic industrial base is not large enough to produce the number of weapons the Pentagon would need in a future war, and the Defense Department needs to show a strong enough demand signal to allow industry to get there, a top lobbying group argues in a new report.
The National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) released a report May 11 outlining the needs of the industrial base, which all come down to demand. There has been a series of hypersonic programs in recent years, but they have not yet transitioned to a program of record with the funding needed to enable production.
“The most important step the DOD can take to secure hypersonics supply chains for the future is to provide a consistent demand signal to industry,” the report says. “During a series of industry working groups, business leaders have raised this issue time and again, illustrating the impact of uneven demand on every level of the supply chain. From the industry perspective, companies must know they will receive a return on investment.”
The report calls on the Pentagon to expand its multiyear munitions procurement authority, first being laid out in the fiscal 2024 request for several key weapons such as long-range cruise missiles, air defense missiles and air-to-air missiles, to hypersonic weapons that need to be traditional programs of record (POR). Specifically, the report says the Air Force’s Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile is furthest along and ready to be designated a POR.
The long-term investment is important for hypersonic weapons, in part because they require critical materials that need long lead times and some have unreliable sources. For example, rare earth elements, ammonium perchlorate, aluminum and tantalum supply chains are heavily linked to China. Neon largely comes from Ukraine, with that supply disrupted by Russia’s invasion. The report urges Congress and the Defense Department to reinforce the National Defense Stockpile of strategic minerals, provide a demand signal to increase investment in key materials such as carbon fiber suppliers, and set a regulatory environment to permit and incentivize domestic rare earth mining. Industry also needs to increase partnerships with government and academia for new rare earth extraction and processing methods.
The inconsistent demand signal for hypersonic weapons also has meant the manufacturing base has not been able to create a stable workforce. In addition to increasing the demand signal, the report calls for more education and training, additional testing infrastructure and increased traditional and additive manufacturing capabilities.
The Pentagon’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation needs to set realistic life cycle cost estimates that factor in inventory goals, development, production and sustainment costs to help decision-makers prioritize the hypersonic programs. For example, there is little consensus between the costs for boost-glide and air-breathing systems, with the latter considered to be cheaper though that estimate is based on limited data and “sometimes biased by industry and service parochialism,” the report says.
NDIA calls on the Pentagon to increase partnerships with allies to assist with supply chain issues. Specifically, the report calls for an overarching hypersonic agreement with Australia, which already has close relationships through the Australia/UK/U.S. security pact and the Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (SCIFiRE) to improve regular day-to-day partnerships. The U.S. can also look to Australia and Canada for increased raw material supply and expanded testing partnerships.
