Trotti and Nurkin interviewed on hypersonic weapons in Defense & Aerospace Report podcast

In September 2020, Forward Defense Assistant Director Christian Trotti and Nonresident Senior Fellow Tate Nurkin were interviewed on hypersonic weapons by Defense & Aerospace Report‘s Vago Muradian. During the interview, Trotti and Nurkin discussed the key insights from Forward Defense’s recent Primer on Hypersonic Weapons in the Indo-Pacific Region, while further exploring essential issues such as:

  • the military utility of hypersonic weapons in alternative applications;
  • the significance of hypersonic weapons across the conventional and nuclear rungs of the escalation ladder;
  • the quantity and mass necessary to achieve strategic and operational effects in wartime; and
  • the imperative to build a defense-industrial base that can produce these weapons at scale.

What intrigues me most about them… is not necessarily a nuclear strike… but more their utility in fast-moving contingencies and conventional operations…

Tate Nurkin

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Report

Aug 17, 2020

Primer on hypersonic weapons in the Indo-Pacific region

By John T. Watts, Christian Trotti, and Mark J. Massa

Hypersonic weapons are nearing maturation, but debates about their military relevance are often defined solely by technology. This primer situates hypersonic weapons within the regional context of the Indo-Pacific to provide a foundation for strategic analysis.

China Defense Industry
Forward Defense

Forward Defense, housed within the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, generates ideas and connects stakeholders in the defense ecosystem to promote an enduring military advantage for the United States, its allies, and partners. Our work identifies the defense strategies, capabilities, and resources the United States needs to deter and, if necessary, prevail in future conflict.

Related Experts: Christian Trotti and Tate Nurkin

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