Weapons (Formerly Munitions) –
Current global conflicts demonstrate significant revolutions in modern warfare; namely, the increasing cost to defend against small, affordable systems and the benefit to strike targets undetected and at will. The U.S. is attempting to address these changes by investing in the critical technologies of hypersonic and directed energy weapons. But after nearly a decade of prototyping and testing—efforts that cost billions of dollars—the U.S. has yet to field a single, sustainable hypersonic or directed energy weapon. The Department of Defense must therefore develop a cohesive strategic plan to advance its hypersonic and directed energy weapon initiatives effectively.
The Department’s current requirements for these systems are undefined, a problem resulting in continued development cycles and non-existent production lines. Additionally, the lack of coordination with allies and partners underutilizes their products, resources, and industry. Promptly procuring a limited number of operational hypersonic and directed energy weapons will return the U.S. to its leading technical role that will generate tangible benefits for political, military, and industry stakeholders. To procure credible hypersonic and directed energy weapons expeditiously, the Department should create central authorities for hypersonic development and procurement and prioritize directed energy partnerships.
Hypersonics and directed energy weapons emerged from the current, complex strategic environment, generating implications for policymakers, service members, the defense industrial base, and U.S. allies and partners. Emerging technologies continuously transform the character of war, with hypersonic and directed energy weapons at the forefront of this evolution. Peer adversaries have developed and fielded hypersonic capabilities, posing significant challenges to the U.S.’s technological supremacy in current and future conflicts. Moreover, the ongoing
conflicts in Ukraine and Israel highlight the economic disparity involved when low-cost unmanned aerial vehicles are targeted with expensive kinetic interceptors, illustrating the financial and tactical implications of modern warfare. Strengthening deterrence across Europe and within the Indo-Pacific are national and global security priorities, as are competing with China and containing Russia. These objectives will benefit from hypersonic and directed energy capabilities, but critics remain concerned over the cost, feasibility, and utility of investing in these emerging technologies.
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