U.S. Representative Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Chairman of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, delivered the following opening remarks at a hearing on the policies, programs, and priorities associated with U.S. hypersonic capabilities, and the capabilities and intent of adversaries' hypersonic development efforts.
Rep. Lamborn's remarks as prepared for delivery:
The Strategic Forces subcommittee meets today to review U.S. and adversary hypersonic capabilities.
Good afternoon to our witnesses – Dr. Horowitz, Dr. Weber, Vice Admiral Wolfe, Lieutenant General Rasch, Lieutenant General White, and Mr. McCormick.
We also are joined by Mr. Rumford the Director of the Test Resource Management Center who will not have a separate opening statement but will be available to answer questions.
Thank you all for being here today and thank you for your service.
This is now the second hearing this subcommittee has held on hypersonic capabilities, one of the most pressing issues for our national defense. China and Russia continue their own program developments at a breathtaking pace.
In the time since our last subcommittee hearing on this subject, the joint Army Navy program has had several unsuccessful test events, and the Air Force has continued to struggle with ARRW.
I appreciate the work your teams are doing to identify and fix the malfunctions that caused the unsuccessful flight tests and get the programs on track to field these critical capabilities. However, at this point we are still well behind our adversaries even if everything goes as planned.
Lieutenant General Rasch and Vice Admiral Wolfe I look forward to your testimony today and hope you can share your plans to get these programs back on track and, more importantly, tell this subcommittee what you need to overcome barriers to fielding an operational system.
Lieutenant General White I recognize your team is similarly working very hard on the issues with the ARRW program and want to discuss specifics in the closed session.
From all the services, this subcommittee would be very interested to hear your assessment of whether the test infrastructure adequately meets your needs to test with the cadence required to meet your programs objectives.
For example, are you getting access to the ranges and facilities that you need? Do they have the appropriate instrumentation and sensors that are required for test campaigns that you are designing?
Dr. Weber and Mr. Rumford over the last few years, Congress has provided additional resources to accelerate the development of hypersonic capabilities and upgrade the necessary test infrastructure. We have worked with the Department of Defense to formalize initiatives that we included in the NDAA, such as the National Hypersonics Initiative.
How are your offices making sure that these initiatives ensure our test infrastructure is up to the task of rapid and iterative testing is required to field these weapons systems on time and are not just well-meaning planning documents?
While the primary focus of today's hearing is on offensive hypersonic capabilities, it is important to note that this committee has been very supportive of defensive programs, such Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI) and HBTSS. Unfortunately, it seems we are always the ones pushing the department to invest in these capabilities.
Dr. Horowitz I was glad to see you talk about the importance of the Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI) program in your statement. However, I'm alarmed by the rumors of an early down select for GPI, and that the Department's FY25 budget does not comply with Congressional intent to field this capability by the end of 2029.
There are many compelling reasons why fielding hypersonic weapons is necessary for our national defense. They enable us to strike distant, defended, and time-critical threats that other forces cannot. This is a critical capability for the Indo-Pacom Commander who faces significant anti-access/area-denial problems. They also provide the Commander in Chief with a conventional response option and have significant strategic deterrent value.
Let's be clear, China and Russia have the advantage when it comes to hypersonic capabilities. This morning, General Guillot testified China and Russia can use these weapons to hold the homeland and our deployed forces at risk. We must act now to get these programs on track before the U.S. falls further behind our adversaries.
We look forward to hearing from you about your efforts to develop these capabilities, and how this subcommittee can be helpful.
