The hard part is no longer the technology to fly at more than Mach 5: It’s putting together all the parts to build hypersonic missiles in bulk.

“As long as we get an appropriation by the beginning of the calendar year, I think we’ll be okay,” the Army’s chief of budget planning said.

“I believe we need the Space Force, in fact, in my opinion, a domain-specific service to organize, train, and equip space forces is overdue,” Air Force Secretary nominee Barbara Barrett said.

We’ve got teams that are working side by side with the JAIC team and obviously the leadership continuity there is key for us. And we’re also working across DoD. I see lines with the AIM initiative (Augmenting Intelligence using Machines) within the IC,

“What I want to bet on is the ability of the United States and our Western allies to out-innovate adversaries,” says Mike Griffin, undersecretary of Defense for research and engineering.

Innovators who put forward the most promising white papers will be invited to pitch their idea to officials representing not only the Army but the other services, the joint Combatant Commands, and independent organizations like the Missile Defense Agency.

As Mark Lewis, an expert on hypersonics at the Institute for Defense Analyses, said here at the NDIA conference: “You can’t walk more than 10 feet in the Pentagon without hearing the word hypersonics.”

Presumptive Deputy Defense Secretary Norquist pledged to “revise budget review timelines and data collection standards to maximize senior leader decision-making quality and timing.”

  PARIS AIR SHOW: Imagine a swarm of up to 30 hypersonic scramjets the size of cruise missiles, launched from air, land and sea. They share data with each other, correcting their flights, perhaps changing targets midcourse. And they can be manufactured relatively quickly and for much less cost than most of the hypersonic vehicles… Keep reading →

The battery of eight missiles, while primarily meant to test out tactics, will be capable of combat. So will a prototype battery of lasers entering service in 2021.