The United States is set to increase the pace of testing and research of hypersonic weapons to keep pace with Russia and China in the sphere, Director of the US Navy’s Strategic Systems Program Vice Admiral Johnny Wolfe said.
"Up until just recently, there hasn’t been a real driver for us to take that technology and put it into a weapon system. The need was not there," Wolfe stated, CNN reported.
He added that the need is now there, "which is why we’ve got a sense of urgency to get after this".
Commenting on last month’s two hypersonic missile tests by the US military to collect data for the development of hypersonic weapons, he acknowledged that China and Russia had developed weapons the US hadn’t.
According to the Congressional Research Service, the Pentagon requested $4.7 billion for such research in the new fiscal year that began on October 1, 2022, up from $3.8 billion in the last fiscal year that finished on September 30, 2022. The US Army plans to field long-range hypersonic weapons as early as next year.
