{"id":33232,"date":"2020-06-09T16:24:58","date_gmt":"2020-06-09T16:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/06\/09\/is-china-already-inside-americas-hypersonic-industrial-base\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:45:09","slug":"is-china-already-inside-americas-hypersonic-industrial-base","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2020\/06\/09\/is-china-already-inside-americas-hypersonic-industrial-base\/","title":{"rendered":"Is China already inside America\u2019s hypersonic industrial base?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 As the Pentagon focuses on developing new technologies such as artificial intelligence and directed energy, department officials have declared<\/a> the need to ensure foreign nations<\/a> are not buying their way into the defense-industrial base. But a new report warns China may already have ownership over a key focus: hypersonic weapons<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hypersonic missiles, which are capable of going faster than five times the speed of sound, are expected to become a backbone of the U.S. military in the coming decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of its annual Federal Scorecard<\/a>, data and analytics firm Govini found that tier one suppliers in the hypersonic supply chain \u2014 seven major companies that are working most closely with the Department of Defense on the technology development \u2014 has done a good job of keeping Chinese-owned companies out of the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But at the tier three level, where companies provide smaller but still critical components, the exposure to Chinese suppliers jumps to nearly 10 percent. And that exposure grows slightly by the time it reaches tier five suppliers, with Govini seeing signs of overlap among companies at those lower levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\t