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<\/p>\n<\/u>La carrera entre las Grandes Potencias por el desarrollo de las revolucionarias Armas Hipers\u00f3nicas, ha motivado que el Departamento de Defensa de EUA, haya resuelto prever la asignaci\u00f3n espec\u00edfica de recursos presupuestarios, que duplican los de a\u00f1os anteriores. La finalidad es llevar adelante un programa intensivo para el desarrollo de estos sistemas de armas, lo que incluir\u00eda m\u00e1s de 40 ensayos operacionales en los pr\u00f3ximos 4 a\u00f1os.<\/p>\n
URDUE UNIVERSITY: The Pentagon plans to nearly double its spending on hypersonic-related technologies in fiscal year 2020 \u2014 if Congress approves it \u2014 and hopes to run around 40 flight tests of hypersonic vehicles over the next four years, Pentagon officials say.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s all part of the much higher profile of hypersonics have in the US military, with the White House receiving a hypersonics briefing earlier this month.<\/p>\n
As Mark Lewis, an expert at the Institute for Defense Analyses, said here at the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA)\u00a0 conference on the topic: \u201cYou can\u2019t walk more than 10 feet in the Pentagon without hearing the word hypersonics.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the US effort lags those of China and Russia in several key metrics, at least. Lewis\u2019 chart below speaks for itself.<\/p>\n
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And, Lewis notes, the US has not flown hypersonic vehicles enough to gather data and press forward with redesigned systems improved as a result of testing.\u00a0The Pentagon\u2019s 2020 budget request for both hypersonic vehicles and defense against them is $2.6 billion. Some $157.4 million of that is for hypersonic defense programs. None of these are programs of record. As any close watcher of the US military knows, that usually means there is actually not a formal requirement for a weapon. So we may be pressing ahead, but these efforts remain fragile and lacking in institutional support.<\/p>\n
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The DoD\u2019s Deputy Undersecretary for Acquisition and Sustainment, Alan Shaffer, appeared here and offered an abundance of caution.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to pay attention to cost and we\u2019ve got to pay attention to affordability,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cFolks, I need you to make hypersonics in a way that we can produce them,\u00a0I need for industry and the military to think about intellectual property and the possible fragility of the industrial supply chain.\u201d<\/p>\n
At lunch, the chair of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee offered a splash of cold water to the enthusiasm of many at the sold-out conference. Hypersonics research is just getting going again at the same time that a huge swell of funding for other weapons loom.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have nuclear modernization and there is going to be a bulge in the budget. We have a new submarine and there is going to be bulge in the budget. We have a new bomber and there is going to be bulge in the budget,\u201d Rep. Pete Visclosky said. Bear in mind that Visclosky represents a nearby constituency to Lafayette, the home of Purdue. And the university offers one of the most advanced wind tunnels designed for hypersonics work, so he would normally be inclined to support funding for something so close to home.<\/p>\n
A key thing the hypersonics community might want to consider is trying to consolidate what defense officials and experts here said was overlapping work and some technological duplication.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need a coordinated national approach,\u201d said\u00a0Lewis, and it must be\u00a0one that includes NASA and strong international partners like Australia. The US and the Aussies have worked together on a program called\u00a0Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation\u00a0(HIFiRE). Australia also offers the rare jewel of the 47,177 square mile Woomera Test Range\u00a0for hypersonics testing.<\/span><\/p>\n The US military is keenly aware of the need for some consolidation, as the head of\u00a0Army Futures Command said in May.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are looking across the entire\u00a0investment portfolio for hypersonics\u00a0and trying to figure out how we are going to start doing some consolidation,\u201d said\u00a0Gen. John \u201cMike\u201d Murray. He was the Army\u2019s funding guru \u2014 the deputy chief of staff for programming \u2014 before becoming the first-ever chief of the newly created\u00a0Army Futures Command\u00a0last\u00a0August.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s too early for me to say \u2018this program, that program, this program,\u2019\u201d he said, \u201cbut we know that hypersonics are going to be very expensive, and we\u2019re going to have to make a decision on the exact path we\u2019re headed down pretty quick.\u201d<\/p>\n