The Atlantic Council Hypersonic Capabilities Task Force

An Atlantic Council task force to accelerate and prioritize the development of hypersonic capabilities.

About

The Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and its Forward Defense program have launched the Hypersonic Capabilities Task Force to benchmark current US efforts to develop offensive hypersonic weapons and defensive counter-hypersonic capabilities. The task force, which convenes stakeholders across the public and private sectors, aims to map where the United States is behind on hypersonic-capability developments, identify where the United States could address key deterrence shortfalls, and recommend solutions to obstacles standing in the way of a more robust national approach to hypersonic capabilities.

Task Force Co-Chairs

Secretary Deborah Lee James

23rd Secretary of the Air Force; Atlantic Council Board Director

Secretary Ryan McCarthy

24th Secretary of the Army

Task Force Members

Jim Cooper

Former US Representative (D-TN-5); Former Chairman, Strategic Forces Subcommittee, House Armed Services Committee

Madelyn Creedon

Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs

Doug Lamborn

Former US Representative (R-CO-5); Former Chairman, Strategic Forces Subcommittee, House Armed Services Committee

James McConville

US Army General, Retired; 40th Army Chief of Staff

Whitney McNamara

Senior Vice President, Beacon Global Strategies; Nonresident Senior Fellow, Forward Defense, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Atlantic Council

Industry Task Force Members

Felipe Gomez del Campo

CEO, Specter Aerospace

Mick Maher

Fellow—Defense Programs, Amaero Ltd

Katrina “Kat” Hornstein

Director, Vehicle Systems, Ursa Major

Michael Johns

Senior Vice President, Kratos

Cameron McCord

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Nominal

Mike Manazir

Vice President, Federal for Hadrian

Mark Rettig

Vice President & General Manager, Edison Works, GE Aerospace

Ralph Sandfry

Director, Advanced Capabilities, Government Affairs, Lockheed Martin

Zach Shore

Chief Revenue Officer, Hermeus

Brian Zimmermann

Senior Vice President, Global Defense, Booz Allen Hamilton

Senior Advisors

Reggie Brothers

Former Under Secretary for Science and Technology at the US Department of Homeland Security

Justin T. Johnson

Former Performing the Duties of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy

Author

Michael E. White
Former Principal Director for Hypersonics in the Office of the Director of Defense Research and Engineering (Modernization)
US Department of Defense

Task Force Director

Stephen Rodriguez
Senior Advisor
Forward Defense, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Atlantic Council

Task Force Sponsors

Meet the Project Team

Fellow

Clementine G. Starling-Daniels

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Security & Defense NATO

Staff

Mark J. Massa

Deputy Director

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Policy National Security

Staff

Alyxandra Marine

Associate Director and Resident Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Crisis Management Defense Policy

Former staff

Jonathan Rosenstein

Former Assistant Director

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Policy Israel

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In the News

Mar 7, 2025

Leaders of Hypersonics Capabilities Task Force author SpaceNews op-ed

By Atlantic Council

On March 6, Hypersonic Capabilities Task Force co-chairs Deborah Lee James, Ryan McCarthy, and lead author, Michael E. White, published an op-ed in SpaceNews entitled, “How the nation can make fielding hypersonic capabilities a national priority.” The article argues that the U.S. must urgently prioritize the development and deployment of hypersonic capabilities to counter growing […]

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Press Release

Jan 24, 2025

Atlantic Council’s Forward Defense program launches Hypersonic Capabilities Task Force

WASHINGTON, JANUARY 24, 2025 — The Atlantic Council’s Forward Defense program has convened former government officials and industry leaders on a Hypersonic Capabilities Task Force to address the opportunities that hypersonic capabilities offer to the United States to enhance deterrence and the challenges posed by adversary hypersonic capabilities. 

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More from the Atlantic Council on Hypersonic Capabilities

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Mar 12, 2025

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Hypersonic weapons and counter-hypersonic defenses will be essential for the United States to deter and, if necessary, prevail in a war against one or more great powers. This is why the Department of Defense and Congress must prioritize the accelerated fielding of these capabilities.

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Matthew Costlow & Robert Soofer explore how expanded roles for US homeland missile defense could enhance deterrence with two nuclear peers

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Primer on hypersonic weapons in the Indo-Pacific region

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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.

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Explore the program

Forward Defense develops and shapes policy solutions that build US military power to deter war and secure the future.

Learn more