The Department of Defense has asked Congress nearly $2.9B in fiscal 2021 funds to procure hypersonic weapons systems, a 14 percent increase from the $2.5B DoD requested for the current fiscal year, Breaking Defense reported Tuesday.
The report said DoD is seeking $3.26B for offensive and defensive missile programs in its next budget request. Hypersonic missiles fall under the “nontraditional” subcategory of left-of-launch funding which covers long-range strike weapons, according to the publication.
In a previous report, Breaking Defense said the Pentagon earmarked $20.3B for missile defense and defeat efforts, which also include $9.2B for the Missile Defense Agency and $7.8B for non-MDA programs.
The Navy, which accounts for the biggest chunk of 2021 hypersonics funding, increased its allocations from $526M in 2020 to over $1B. Funding is primarily geared towards the submarine-launched Conventional Prompt Strike weapon slated for deployment in 2025.
The Army also increased hypersonics funding from $441M to $859M. Both the Army and Navy deploy boost-glide weapons built in partnership with Leidos‘ (NYSE: LDOS) Dynetics business.
Air Force spending, the smallest of the services, decreased from $848M to $554M following program cancellations.
The report comes after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) kicked off the third phase of the “Operational Fires” hypersonic missile development program in March.
