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Third hypersonic test eyed
Despite Concerns, House Authorizers Don't Increase CPGS Dollars
Posted: May. 07, 2014
Despite expressing concern that the Pentagon lacks funding needed for a hypersonic weapon technology capable of striking faraway, fleeting targets on short notice, the House Armed Services Committee is not authorizing additional money for the faster-than-the-speed-of-sound program. In its mark-up of the fiscal year 2015 defense authorization bill, the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee expressed concern that the Pentagon did not request enough money to deploy a hypersonic prompt strike weapon on a submarine platform or transition the technology to an acquisition program. The subcommittee calls for the Pentagon's acquisition chief, along with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to submit a report by February 2015 that lays out a detailed plan for the future of the Conventional Prompt Global Strike (CPGS) program. The report should look at "an estimated timeline for completion of current research and development activities and associated projected cost; a determination about which additional strategic infrastructure technologies and enabling capabilities may be required to support" CPGS; and efforts to transition these technologies to current and future weapon systems, according to the subcommittee mark released last week. The report should also examine when these programs will be "transitioned to military services for full development and acquisition" and "an updated assessment of threat for which the military requirement for this capability was validated," according to the mark. CPGS systems are intended to provide a long-range, rapid, precise, non-nuclear capability for destroying high-risk targets that appear only briefly or are heavily guarded. Such weapons would evade enemy defenses in anti-access and area-denial threat environments.
"The committee is also concerned that with the budget request for fiscal year 2015, and the future years defense program, there is not sufficient funding requested and planned for the transition of this technology to a military service for a full-scale development and acquisition program when the technology has reached appropriate maturity," according to the subcommittee mark. The Defense Department is seeking $70.8 million for the CPGS program in FY-15, according to budget justification documents released in March, which note that "program timing will be driven by the outcome of flight test events and DOD budgets." The department plans for $769.5 million over the future-years defense plan, with more than $200 million requested in both FY-18 and FY-19. The House Armed Services Committee's chairman's mark, released this week, provides $70.8 million in FY-15. DOD wants most of that money -- $65.2 million in FY-15 -- to go to the project that includes the Army's Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW). This sub-program is designed to "test and evaluate alternative booster and delivery vehicle options and will assess the feasibility of producing an affordable alternate solution to fill the CPGS capability gap," according to the budget justification materials. The AHW had its first successful flight test in November 2011, when it was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii and traveled 2,400 miles to Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific.
In August, DOD intends to conduct the second test of the AHW, according to recent congressional testimony. The results of this planned test could help drive DOD's plans for CPGS. But House authorizers also question whether the department has enough money to fully examine its AHW efforts. "The committee is aware that following flight test 2, the Department of Defense plans to examine the feasibility of deploying a hypersonic prompt strike weapon on a submarine platform," the subcommittee wrote. "The committee believes it is prudent to undertake these efforts, but is concerned about the budget sufficiency to do so." The subcommittee also questions whether a third flight test of the program might be beneficial. "The committee is also concerned that there does not appear to be an Army development program in the department's plans, notwithstanding the fact that the only success the United States has seen with these technologies is the Army's AHW demonstrator," the subcommittee wrote. "The committee believes it is prudent to consider whether a third flight test of the AHW could contribute to the department's understanding of the feasibility of an Army development path."
The report the subcommittee calls for should also include an "assessment of the utility of a third AHW flight test," according to the mark. In addition to building up U.S. hypersonic efforts, the subcommittee also wants to ensure the Pentagon is working to protect against this technology, noting that in January, China successfully conducted its first flight test of a hypersonic glide vehicle. China and other nations "pose an increasing challenge to the United States' technology edge in such emerging areas as hypersonic weapons," the subcommittee wrote. "The committee is unaware of any significant efforts to prepare defenses against hypersonic weapons," the subcommittee wrote, calling for the acquisition chief and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to prepare a report by the end of the year "that evaluates emerging hypersonic threats to the United States, its allies and its deployed forces, and explains how the Department of Defense intends to develop and deploy a defensive capability to counter this emerging threat." The full committee was marking up the bill at press time (May 7). -- Jordana Mishory
Despite Concerns, House Authorizers Don't Increase CPGS Dollars
Posted: May. 07, 2014
Despite expressing concern that the Pentagon lacks funding needed for a hypersonic weapon technology capable of striking faraway, fleeting targets on short notice, the House Armed Services Committee is not authorizing additional money for the faster-than-the-speed-of-sound program. In its mark-up of the fiscal year 2015 defense authorization bill, the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee expressed concern that the Pentagon did not request enough money to deploy a hypersonic prompt strike weapon on a submarine platform or transition the technology to an acquisition program. The subcommittee calls for the Pentagon's acquisition chief, along with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to submit a report by February 2015 that lays out a detailed plan for the future of the Conventional Prompt Global Strike (CPGS) program. The report should look at "an estimated timeline for completion of current research and development activities and associated projected cost; a determination about which additional strategic infrastructure technologies and enabling capabilities may be required to support" CPGS; and efforts to transition these technologies to current and future weapon systems, according to the subcommittee mark released last week. The report should also examine when these programs will be "transitioned to military services for full development and acquisition" and "an updated assessment of threat for which the military requirement for this capability was validated," according to the mark. CPGS systems are intended to provide a long-range, rapid, precise, non-nuclear capability for destroying high-risk targets that appear only briefly or are heavily guarded. Such weapons would evade enemy defenses in anti-access and area-denial threat environments.
"The committee is also concerned that with the budget request for fiscal year 2015, and the future years defense program, there is not sufficient funding requested and planned for the transition of this technology to a military service for a full-scale development and acquisition program when the technology has reached appropriate maturity," according to the subcommittee mark. The Defense Department is seeking $70.8 million for the CPGS program in FY-15, according to budget justification documents released in March, which note that "program timing will be driven by the outcome of flight test events and DOD budgets." The department plans for $769.5 million over the future-years defense plan, with more than $200 million requested in both FY-18 and FY-19. The House Armed Services Committee's chairman's mark, released this week, provides $70.8 million in FY-15. DOD wants most of that money -- $65.2 million in FY-15 -- to go to the project that includes the Army's Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW). This sub-program is designed to "test and evaluate alternative booster and delivery vehicle options and will assess the feasibility of producing an affordable alternate solution to fill the CPGS capability gap," according to the budget justification materials. The AHW had its first successful flight test in November 2011, when it was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii and traveled 2,400 miles to Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific.
In August, DOD intends to conduct the second test of the AHW, according to recent congressional testimony. The results of this planned test could help drive DOD's plans for CPGS. But House authorizers also question whether the department has enough money to fully examine its AHW efforts. "The committee is aware that following flight test 2, the Department of Defense plans to examine the feasibility of deploying a hypersonic prompt strike weapon on a submarine platform," the subcommittee wrote. "The committee believes it is prudent to undertake these efforts, but is concerned about the budget sufficiency to do so." The subcommittee also questions whether a third flight test of the program might be beneficial. "The committee is also concerned that there does not appear to be an Army development program in the department's plans, notwithstanding the fact that the only success the United States has seen with these technologies is the Army's AHW demonstrator," the subcommittee wrote. "The committee believes it is prudent to consider whether a third flight test of the AHW could contribute to the department's understanding of the feasibility of an Army development path."
The report the subcommittee calls for should also include an "assessment of the utility of a third AHW flight test," according to the mark. In addition to building up U.S. hypersonic efforts, the subcommittee also wants to ensure the Pentagon is working to protect against this technology, noting that in January, China successfully conducted its first flight test of a hypersonic glide vehicle. China and other nations "pose an increasing challenge to the United States' technology edge in such emerging areas as hypersonic weapons," the subcommittee wrote. "The committee is unaware of any significant efforts to prepare defenses against hypersonic weapons," the subcommittee wrote, calling for the acquisition chief and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to prepare a report by the end of the year "that evaluates emerging hypersonic threats to the United States, its allies and its deployed forces, and explains how the Department of Defense intends to develop and deploy a defensive capability to counter this emerging threat." The full committee was marking up the bill at press time (May 7). -- Jordana Mishory
