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DOD Has Pedal To The Metal On Hypersonics
by Jim Garamone, DOD News
July 8, 2020
Mark J. Lewis, who spoke with Marcus Weisgerber at the Defense
One Tech Summit on June 17, 2020 noted that Russia has announced
fielding a hypersonic capability and that China is investing heavily
in the technology.
Hypersonic missiles are fast ... very
fast ... and agile in a way that ballistic missiles or cruise
missiles are not. He said the U.S. goal is to have the technology
fielded at scale by the mid 2020s.
The Defense Department has
one main effort by the services, and DOD agencies have parts, because hypersonics is more than just one thing, said Lewis, who holds a
doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. "The Army and the Navy both have very
active programs as well looking at ways to develop this technology,"
he said. "Our key here is we want to deliver hypersonics at scale;
and by that I mean, we want to go beyond the prototypes."
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A common hypersonic glide body launches from Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii, during a Defense Department flight experiment, March 19, 2020. The Navy and the Army jointly executed the launch of the C-HGB, which flew at hypersonic speed to a designated point of impact. The Missile Defense Agency monitored and gathered tracking data from the experimental flight that will inform its ongoing development of systems designed to defend against adversaries’ hypersonic weapons. (U.S. Navy courtesy photo)
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That means bridging the proverbial "valley of death" between a
research effort and a funded and viable service program that leads
to a capability, he explained.
"We all have this firm, fixed
goal of delivering capability," Lewis said. "These are no longer
science projects, are no longer things that are being confined to
the lab. So with that mindset, across the range of activities that
we’re involved in, I think we're making headway in bridging that
valley."
He noted that the Air Force is working with the
Defense Advanced Research Project Agency on the Arrow program.
Scientists in both organizations are working closely together and
solving problems together and sharing information.
At one
time, the United States had the lead in hypersonic research. He
noted the Air Force X-51 program, which last flew in 2013 and then
was discontinued. It was a different world then, Lewis said, and the
decision at the time was to not invest in the technology.
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The third X-43A hypersonic research aircraft and its modified Pegasus booster rocket leaves the runway, carried aloft by NASA's B-52B launch aircraft from the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California on November 16, 2004. About an hour later, the Pegasus booster was launched from the B-52 to accelerate the X-43A to its intended speed of Mach 10. (NASA photo by Tom Tschida)
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"I think now we have leadership at all levels of the Pentagon ...
but coming from the front office ... recognizing the importance of
this technology, and realizing we need to put our foot on the
proverbial gas," he said. "That's certainly what's driving this."
What was once a walk in the park has become a race with
near-peer competitors, Lewis said. "We kind of did the homework for
the rest of the world," he said.
U.S. researchers did the
original work on hypersonics and early development. "And then,
because we took our foot off the gas, other people were able to pick
up on what we had done and build on our successes," he said.
Those nations ... Russia and China most obviously ... recognized
the importance of the technology and began their own programs.
Now, the United States must not only build an offensive
capability, but also must handle the defensive portion, Lewis said.
"The defensive part is absolutely critical as we go forward," he
added. "If I'm going to defend against hypersonic systems, there are
a couple of key things that I need to do. The very first thing I
need to do is to be able to detect a hypersonic weapon flying at me
and respond quickly enough."
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U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet 2nd
Class Eric Hembling uses a Ludwieg tube, a type of
wind tunnel, to measure the pressures, temperatures and flow
fields of basic geometric and hypersonic research vehicles
at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado
on January 31, 2019. (U.S. Air Force photo by Joshua
Armstrong)
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DOD ... via the Space Development Agency ... is investing in this
capability.
Once detected, there must be a response. "Let me
not get into specific weapon systems, but I can say that depending
on the hypersonic weapon … they each have their own responses," he
said. "It is very difficult to stop a hypersonic weapon. That's why
we want to pursue them. That's why our peer competitors are pursuing
them. But it's not impossible."
Some existing technologies
may be used, he said, as may some technologies in development. "So
there are answers, there are solutions, but it's definitely an area
that we see a need for increased effort," he said.
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