The defense industrial base is “incapable” of building hypersonic systems at scale, due mainly to the government giving ambiguous signals to industry about whether it will invest in such technologies, according to a new paper from the National Defense Industrial Association's Emerging Technology Institute. The ...
The Air Force’s ARRW hypersonic missile program will end after another couple of tests, service acquisition executive Andrew Hunter told the House Armed Services Committee. His written testimony affirmed remarks from Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall that the boost-glide ARRW will be supplanted by the ...
The National Defense Industrial Association has given the climate for the defense industrial base a failing grade based on data in the association's latest "Vital Signs" annual report. Supply chain issues, workforce availability, cyber espionage, reduced investment in basic research, and insufficient leadership in key ...
A new list of Pentagon research and engineering priorities is coming soon, and highly placed on the list will be artificial intelligence, integrated networks, hypersonics, and microelectronics, said Heidi Shyu, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering. Shyu also said a major exercise will take ...
Boeing has revealed an updated concept for its Valkyrie reusable, unmanned hypersonic aircraft that indicates new design approaches for inlets and shaping. Shown in an artist’s concept illustration provided to Air Force Magazine—and in the form of a model at the American Institute of Aeronautics ...
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said he's "unsatisfied" with the pace of progress in Air Force hypersonics programs and even "the degree to which we’ve figured out what we need from hypersonics." Speaking to reporters at AFA's Air, Space & Cyber Conference, he said he's ...
Heidi Shyu, former army acquisition chief in the Obama administration, is President Joe Biden's nominee for the top Pentagon technology job—undersecretary of defense for research and engineering. Shyu had a long career with Raytheon, specializing in radar, other sensors, and unmanned aircraft. She was born ...
The United States is on a crash course to field prototype hypersonic weapons within three years, with more elaborate and mature systems to follow soon after. Flight tests will ramp up quickly this year, with follow-on tests as frequently as every six weeks over the ...
The Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) missile failed to fly in a planned test launch, due to mechanical errors, not the missile design, sources reported. The problem follows captive-carry test flight issues during the spring and summer, which led to a HAWC prototype being damaged. ...
The Pentagon has shifted its top priority from hypersonics to microelectronics, because the latter technology is an element of almost all weapon systems, and the U.S. is "in danger" of losing superiority in this area, said Mark Lewis, the head of defense research and engineering ...
Former Air Force Chief Scientist Mark J. Lewis has been appointed Director of Defense Research and Engineering for Modernization, the Pentagon confirmed. Lewis will oversee the directors of 12 technologies the Defense Department deems its highest priorities, and their implementation roadmaps, ranging from hypersonics to ...