America Is Closing The Hypersonic Weapons Gap (From 1945)

The U.S. is in a race to develop and deploy hypersonic weapons. It is a race in which it seeks to catch up to its great power competitors, Russia and China. Hypersonic weapons are complex systems. Developing them requires not only expertise in a host of advanced technologies, but also access to sophisticated infrastructure assets such as high-speed wind tunnels and test ranges. It is also a challenge to integrate these new capabilities into the force structures and operating concepts of the military services, and providing those services with the necessary command and control and targeting capabilities. There are only a few defense companies with the range of skills and capabilities needed to make U.S. hypersonic weapons a reality. I have written more on this subject here.