{"id":16962,"date":"2020-04-22T20:30:56","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T20:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/04\/22\/hypersonic-weapons-arent-fast-enough-to-avoid-coronavirus\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:25:07","slug":"hypersonic-weapons-arent-fast-enough-to-avoid-coronavirus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/coronavirus\/2020\/04\/22\/hypersonic-weapons-arent-fast-enough-to-avoid-coronavirus\/","title":{"rendered":"Hypersonic weapons aren\u2019t fast enough to avoid coronavirus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The supply chain the Pentagon is relying on to develop hypersonic weapons<\/a> for the future is feeling heat from the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, a department official said Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, absolutely we are,\u201d said Mark Lewis, the department\u2019s director of research and engineering for modernization, when asked if his team is tracking any impacts on the hypersonic supply chain from the disease, which has shut down work<\/a> for dozens of defense contractors around the country since it began in early March<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re monitoring it very carefully. We\u2019re concerned about our first-tier industrial providers, but also worried right down the supply chain,\u201d Lewis added while speaking at an event hosted by the Mitchell Institute. \u201cIf you look at hypersonics, for example, some of the most critical elements are produced by relatively small operations, and so we\u2019re very sensitive to that, we\u2019re including that as we look at the impacts of coronavirus on the industrial base.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t