"Belated reaction": how the Pentagon urged not to lose the technological advantage of the United States

The Pentagon called on not to lose the technological advantage of the United States due to potential adversaries gaining wider access to modern technologies.

This statement was made by US Deputy Secretary of Defense Heidi Xu at the virtual forum of the Institute of Software Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.

“In my opinion, the path to building confidence in the face of technological disruptions is to accept these changes and make early progress.

Today, the development of science, technology and innovation in all areas of the Ministry of Defense is more important than ever.

Many potential adversaries will have wider access to commercial modern technologies than ever before, and this could cause serious damage to our country.

We cannot afford to level out the technological advantage, ”Xu said.

The US Deputy Secretary of Defense named hypersonic technology as one of the innovative areas on which the Pentagon is focusing.

"(The department's attention is focused on.

) reducing the cost of hypersonic technology so that the ministry can purchase it in large quantities, as well as developing materials that are resistant to high temperatures and can withstand the speeds at which these missiles will fly," the message says. The Pentagon.

Xu also noted that among the difficult challenges facing the US Armed Forces is protection against hypersonic missiles.

“To meet these challenges and stay ahead of our adversaries, the US Department of Defense must rely on the most incredible innovation ecosystem - both domestically and internationally,” she said.

Hypersonic difficulties

We will remind, earlier Washington admitted that the United States lagged behind Russia and China in the field of hypersound.

In February, the senior director of the hypersonic weapons program of the US Undersecretary of Defense for Scientific and Technological Development, Mike White, said that competitors of the American side, in particular Moscow and Beijing, are actively engaged in the development of technologies in the field of hypersound, as well as the development of such systems that are already being put into service. ...

For this reason, the Pentagon is formulating a comprehensive strategy to accelerate the development and deployment of offensive hypersonic systems, as well as defenses against enemy hypersonic systems, the US Department of Defense said.

So, by the beginning - mid-2020s, the American military department intends to deploy offensive hypersonic systems to deliver strikes from the sea, air and land "against well-protected and especially important targets in a time-limited environment."

In addition, the US military is considering accelerating the development and implementation of a multi-layered hypersound defense system in the mid to late 2020s.

By the early - mid 2030s, Washington plans to create reusable hypersonic systems.

• US hypersonic missile prototype

• © Raytheon Missiles & Defense

However, already in March, the United States Accounts Chamber announced that Washington does not have sufficiently developed technologies that are required to develop hypersonic weapons, and therefore programs for their deployment may be implemented with delays. At the same time, the department noted that such examples already exist: the project for the development of an aeroballistic hypersonic cruise missile AGM-183A ARRW is being carried out belatedly, within which all four planned flight tests were overdue. The reason for this delay was the delay by almost a year of the Tactical Boost Glide program ("Tactical acceleration - planning"), "aimed at reducing risks and providing planning technology for ARRW," the US Audit Office clarified. The department also admittedthat the Pentagon will continue to postpone testing "with all the time and material consequences."

In June, Mike White said that the US Department of Defense wants to "perfect and present solutions" based on hypersonic technologies in a very short time, but such work is fraught with a number of difficulties.

According to him, the implementation of American projects on hypersound is accompanied by technological and engineering problems, including "related to materials and heat."

“Now we are trying to develop a family of systems, initial prototypes and move on to deploy them at the proper level.

Most of the problems arise in production, and they are mainly caused by a long-term lack of investment in this area, ”he said.

White said there is a need to focus on this if the US wants to "go beyond experimenting."

Also, according to a spokesman for the US Department of Defense, for the successful implementation of hypersonic programs, it is "fundamentally important" to be able to conduct a sufficient number of launches.

“If the infrastructure allows testing only once or twice a year and the results are not clear, then there is a risk of losing confidence in the project,” said White.

"In the role of a catch-up"

As military expert Alexei Leonkov noted in a commentary to RT, the US Deputy Secretary of Defense's fears about "leveling the technological advantage" of the country are somewhat belated, since Russia and China have already largely overtaken the United States in the field of hypersonic technologies.

The analyst recalled that the innovations that the Pentagon is currently working on in this area have long been developed and introduced into hypersonic weapons by the Russian side.

“Heidi Xu's statement is a belated reaction to the progress of the Russian Federation and China, which already have hypersonic weapons.

Russia, in particular, made a breakthrough in technologies that allowed it to create a certain type of materials that can withstand extremely high temperatures and loads that a flying object experiences at hypersonic speeds, ”Leonkov explained.

Moreover, Russia managed to achieve controllability in the use of hypersonic weapons, which the United States is only dreaming of, the expert emphasized.

“The Russian side has achieved that it can control its hypersound so that it, while maneuvering during flight, ends up hitting the target exactly.

And this most difficult task required the most serious fundamental research, long-term development.

This is a very complex physical and mathematical modeling.

In Russia, this technology was used to create the Avangard planning hypersonic unit, the Kinzhal aeroballistic hypersonic missile, and the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile.

For the Americans, all this is still out of the realm of fantasy, ”Leonkov said.

• Tests of hypersonic weapons in the United States

• © US Navy

Vasily Kashin, a military expert and senior researcher at the Higher School of Economics, also notes a serious lag in the United States in the development of hypersonic weapons.

“The United States has many difficulties in this area.

Undoubtedly, the American side made many mistakes, including not paying due attention to hypersonic technology.

While the United States was engaged in its military campaigns abroad, the Russian Federation and the PRC deployed their hypersonic weapons projects, which, as a result, have already been implemented.

Therefore, Washington is now betting on all sorts of technological aspects, breakthrough technologies in the hope of being ahead, "he said in an interview with RT.

According to Leonkov, despite the fact that the United States spends colossal funds on hypersonic projects, they will be able to achieve at least some results only in about seven years, when the Russian Federation and China have already gone far ahead.

“A huge amount of money was spent on hypersonic programs, but none of the Pentagon's projects were successfully implemented or brought to an end.

The timing of the receipt of this kind of weapon by the American side is being postponed all the time - it was, in particular, about 2021.

This period has now been pushed back to the mid-2020s.

But, most likely, there will be another delay and they will have some more or less visible results only in 2028, ”the expert noted.

Leonkov also added that the "innovation ecosystem" inside and outside the United States, which the deputy head of the Pentagon is talking about, will not save the day.

"We are talking, in particular, about Washington's cooperation with its allies, including in the field of hypersound, but this will not give the United States any special competitive advantages," he said.

Commenting on the words of the US Deputy Secretary of Defense about the problem of protection against hypersonic missiles facing the American Armed Forces, Leonkov said that Washington would not be able to solve it for the time being.

“The US missile defense system is useless against hypersound.

It will not even be able to detect such objects, let alone destroy them: the United States does not have any technological capabilities for this, ”the analyst stated.

As Leonkov emphasized, the United States, which is experiencing serious problems in the field of hypersound, "will remain in the role of catch-up."

“If even after many years they reach the levels of development that Russia and China now have, the Russian Federation and China will have gone far ahead by that time.

On the basis of the hypersonic technologies existing in Moscow and Beijing, other types of weapons may appear, which the Americans have no idea about, ”the expert concluded.