Congress Failure To Pass Budget Threatens Hypersonics, Other Weapons Programs - Pentagon

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th September, 2019) A stop gap funding measure that is expected to keep the US government running when the fiscal year ends just over a week, threatens to delay work on an array of new weapons, including hypersonic missiles, Department of Defense said.

"Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon - delays critical long lead purchases, putting planned delivery at risk; adversely impacting the ability to deter and defeat near-peer adversaries," a Defense Department list of programs facing potential delays said on Friday.

Congress has yet to pass a defense appropriations bill or other major appropriations bills for fiscal year 2020, which begins October 1.

The Defense Department said it will be able to manage the impacts as long as full-year appropriations bills are passed in the coming weeks.

The House of Representatives and the Senate in the coming days are expected to vote on a continuing resolution to keep the government open through November 21. By then, lawmakers must either have finished a 2020 budget or will need to pass another continuing resolution.

The Defense Department is racing to develop hypersonic missiles, which fly between above five times the speed of sound, to match weapons already demonstrated by Russia and China.

At hypersonic speeds, existing missile defense systems are ineffective, according to published reports.