GAO: DOD Must Up Reporting Hypersonic Weapons Troubles

The United States' ability to keep up with China's and Russia's hypersonic weapons is being hampered by the Defense Department's failure to provide a comprehensive report on the development of such weapons, according to the Government Accountability Office.

The GAO on Monday released a report entitled, "DOD Could Reduce Cost and Schedule Risks by Following Leading Practices" regarding hypersonic weapons.

Cited in the report were test failures with Air Force and Army systems that were supposed to have been operational already. Despite that, the Pentagon "is not comprehensively communicating and reporting to Congress its progress on managing risks," GAO said. "Reporting comprehensive information would enable Congress to better understand and oversee" the programs.

Russia's use of hypersonic weapons against Ukraine and China's deploying of at least one weapon, the DF-17, are in contrast to failed efforts by the U.S., Bloomberg reported.

The DOD has begun multiple efforts to develop offensive hypersonic weapons, which move at least five times the speed of sound and have unpredictable flight paths. The weapons can be launched on the ground, in the air, and at sea.

The U.S. has spent about $12 billion since 2018 on hypersonic weapons, Bloomberg reported.

The GAO report disclosed the projected costs for the top hypersonic programs in development, including a $10.3 billion price tag for the Army system and $30 billion for a Navy weapon called the Conventional Prompt Strike.

The GAO said high costs and failed tests are a concern for some of these efforts.

The office's report followed a review of documentation for the six hypersonic efforts currently being developed by the Army, Air Force, and Navy. DOD officials also were interviewed.

"GAO is making 10 recommendations to DOD, including increasing the incorporation of feedback from users into system designs, expanding the use of modern digital engineering tools, improving the Conventional Prompt Strike cost estimate, and expanding enterprise-level reporting activities. DOD concurred with these recommendation," the report said.

The Pentagon said in a statement that officials "concurred with all GAO recommendations, to include providing additional information to congressional decisionmakers on DOD's progress in managing risks for hypersonics," Bloomberg reported.

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