The Department of Defense’s proposed budget for Army and Air Force hypersonics development and requisition for the years 2023 through 2027 sits at $15 billion, according to a January report from the Congressional Budget Office. However, the increase in funding and tempo of the US program comes as relations between the US and China are the worst they’ve been in decades. Other countries including Australia, Iran, both North and South Korea, Brazil, Germany, Israel, India, and Japan are developing hypersonic programs. Russia even used six of its hypersonic Kinzhal missiles in Ukraine earlier this month, the largest number the country has deployed in one strike during the war. But there’s been relatively little US investment in these systems in recent decades, while China and Russia have developed their hypersonics programs. Hypersonic weapons, or vehicles and missiles that travel faster than Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, aren’t new the US has been developing and testing these weapons since the 1950s. But a 21st-century arms race is a major risk, especially without a full picture of Chinese weapons development and amid the increasingly poor relationship between the two nations. The US Department of Defense is pouring money into hypersonic weapons after years of defense officials’ warnings that China is gaining superiority in that arena.
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