More funding is needed to develop and quickly manufacture hypersonic missiles, autonomous systems, and AI tools to counter China and other threats, President Trump’s nominee to be deputy defense secretary said on Tuesday.
“We have to develop hypersonics. We can’t allow the Chinese to be faster than us, both in their weaponry and aircraft,” financier Stephen Feinberg told the Senate Armed Service Committee during his confirmation hearing.
The Pentagon asked for $4.7 billion for fiscal 2023 to develop hypersonic weapons, which remain maneuverable at five times the speed of sound. The fiscal 2025 request seeks $6.9 billion.
“We’re under invested,” he said. “It’s essential for national security. I don’t understand the thought process in the last administration, which didn’t have it in high importance.”
Feinberg didn’t say how he would accelerate development, an effort hobbled across administrations by a lack of testing ranges and other factors, but he did acknowledge the obstacles.
“Limited access to test assets or aging test infrastructure, as well as failures to prioritize certain technology areas, are all challenges DOD faces in technology development,” Feinberg said in his written responses to the committee questions.
Hypersonic missiles were the only weapons program Feinberg expressed any affinity for. In other areas, such as air or sea power, he said, it was time to “move away from expensive, overly sophisticated platforms that take years to develop” toward much more rapid production of cheaper technologies.
The Navy, for example, should “transition to a hybrid fleet of manned and unmanned vessels,” he said in his written testimony, seemingly echoing the service’s current plans.
And when asked about continuing to develop a new manned fighter aircraft, Feinberg indicated ambivalence.
“Some believe that we can go straight to full autonomous systems: we don’t need a next-generation fighter and we could use the F-35, updated…as a strategy. Others feel we really need the next-generation fighter despite its expense and difficulty.”
Feinberg didn’t endorse one idea over the other but said a real, highly classified assessment of China’s own next-generation stealth fighter program, the so-called J-20, should be the most important factor in deciding. Even that somewhat guarded statement represents a shift away from the dogged defense of high-tech fighters that has spanned presidential administrations.
Feinberg seemed reluctant to defend any current system or program and vowed to take a “hard” examination of each of them to save money. He also said he wants the acquisition process to be far more accessible to new players and less favorable to established prime contractors.
On artificial intelligence and the possibility of deploying autonomous weapons more broadly, Feinberg acknowledged that legal and ethical authorities constrain use, making them less lethal. But simply removing those considerations can create what he described as “problems.” It was, he said, one of the most important areas for the Defense Department to continue to wrestle with.
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