“Leveraging the capabilities at NSWC Crane, we can not only develop effective hypersonic technologies, but we can also develop them affordably at the speed of relevance to our warfighters,” Acting Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Mark Lewis said in the release.
The consolidation will allow scientists and engineers to leverage earlier and ongoing investments to help US military services develop hypersonic weapons with more rapid, adaptable and modular upgrades, the release said.
The release coincided with a virtual ribbon-cutting ceremony in which the Pentagon’s Joint Hypersonics Transition Office opened the hypersonic research centre at the NSWC in Crane, Indiana.
The centre previously received $150 million to set up an underwater launch test complex, a missile technology evaluation facility, and a simulation lab for hardware and software developers, the release added.
This year, the United States launched an accelerated push to develop hypersonic missiles that fly at speeds between five and 20 times the speed of sound in response to successful demonstrations of the technology by China and Russia.