From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov

Transcript for: 

Hypersonic Weapons are Next Level.  The Design Process for them Should
be Too. 


Description: 

Offensive hypersonic weapons move at least five times the speed of sound
and have unpredictable flight paths. DOD has begun multiple efforts to
develop offensive hypersonic weapons that can be launched on the ground,
in the air, and at sea. High costs and failed tests are a concern for
some of these efforts.  

GAO looked into six hypersonic efforts being developed by the Army, Air
Force, and Navy.  After gathering and reviewing significant information
the GAO is making 10 recommendations to DOD to improve these efforts.

Related GAO Works: GAO-24-106792. Hypersonic Weapons: DOD Could Reduce 
Cost and Schedule Risks by Following Leading Practices
 

Released: July 2024

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The Department of Defense is developing hypersonic weapons that may
offer tactical military advantages like moving at 5 times the speed of
sound and having an unpredictable flight path. 

But most of DOD's efforts to develop hypersonic weapons aren't using
modern digital engineering tools, such as virtual representations of
physical products. Using such tools could help DOD speed up the
schedules for prototypes and make it easier to incorporate changes based
on user feedback.  

We recommended applying this and other leading practices to DOD's
development of hypersonic weapons. 

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For more info, check out our report GAO-24-106792 at: GAO.gov