Pentagon Fast-Tracks “Fixes” in Hypersonic Weapons, Moves to Catch & Pass China

By Kris Osborn, President, Warrior Maven

The Pentagon and the military services are taking aggressive measures to capture lessons learned from recent hypersonic tests, build on several years of progress with the Common Hypersonic Glide Body and quickly close whatever “gap” there may be between the US and China when it comes to hypersonic weapons.

All is not lost, US weapons developers stressed in recent remarks to lawmakers, given the massively accelerated nature of the effort and the pace at which adjustments are being made following unsuccessful tests.

There is a collective sense of urgency, however, as threat situation regarding China and hypersonic weapons is considered serious, according to Pentagon experts testifying before Congress.

“China now has the world’s leading hypersonic weapons arsenal,” Mr. Jeffrey McCormick, Senior Intelligence Analyst, National Air and Space Intelligence Center, told Congress in written testimony to the House Armed Services Committee, Strategic Forces Subcommittee. 

McCormick told lawmakers that China deployed its DF-17 hypersonic missile in 2020, a weapon able to hold targets at risk at ranges up to 1,600km.  He specified that US military forces in the Pacific would potentially be held at risk by this weapon.  

McCormick’s testimony did not reference yet another threat, China’s CPS equivalent YJ-21 ship-launched hypersonic weapon. The PLA Navy has test-fired its YJ-21 hypersonic missile from its new Type 055 destroyer, according to numerous news reports and, according to the Chinese government-backed Global Times newspaper, even deployed an air-launched variant of its YJ-21 from its H-6 bomber.

However, the Pentagon and US military services may be very quickly closing the gap. It is also not beyond the realm of possibility that the US could “pass” China in the realm of hypersonics in the next several years, given rapid progress and early work on a new generation of hypersonic weapons. Several years ago at a Space and Missile Defense Conference, US Army and Navy weapons developers spoke about early progress with “tech-insertion” efforts to upgrade hypersonic weapons to track and destroy moving targets. Tech insertions, involving mostly software, would be designed to expand guidance technology, precision targeting and perhaps even the ability to change-course in flight and adjust to moving targets.