Will some of our traditional military assets become obsolete overnight?

Ben Wolfgang reports in the Washington Times,

...The sprint to regain an advantage in the realm of hypersonics — missiles and aircraft that can travel at least five times the speed of sound — dominated the discussion among military, academic and industrial leaders gathered for a high-level conference this week at Purdue University. The speed, precision and lethality of the new weaponry threaten to render traditional military assets — tanks, aircraft carriers, amphibious assault vessels — obsolete virtually overnight.

Across the board, stakeholders agree that Washington has allowed Beijing and Moscow to make massive strides while failing to keep pace or to develop a comprehensive strategy to counter enemy first strikes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin boasts that his country possesses a hypersonic nuclear-capable missile that can evade virtually any defense system on earth, including those protecting American cities.

Although Russia’s capabilities are worrisome, analysts say, China is an even greater threat. China’s military planners, more discreet than Mr. Putin, have employed a more covert, decadeslong strategy to study American research, copy what works and use their nation’s ingrained symbiotic partnership between business and government to lap the U.S.

“We did their homework for them. They built on our efforts, they read all of our papers,” said Mark Lewis, director of the Science and Technology Policy Institute at the Institute for Defense Analyses and a global leader in hypersonic research.

Defense contractors are lining up to develop hypersonic weapons and — equally important — improved missile defenses to deal with the challenge of an adversary’s incoming hypersonic arsenal. Lockheed Martin reportedly signed contracts worth some $2.5 billion for hypersonic weapons in 2018 alone, and rival Raytheon told investors on a conference call earlier this year that every division of the company was working on counterhypersonic research.

...Hypersonic weapons could render the traditional power of American planes, ships and tanks virtually useless.

“You no longer need a first-rate air force to confront our first-rate Air Force,” Mr. Lewis said. “If you use hypersonic weapons to destroy an air base, the U.S. Air Force can never become airborne. You have effectively defeated our capabilities. If you can use hypersonics to sink an aircraft carrier off your shores, then you have effectively negated the advantages the U.S. has.”

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