Why Hypersonic Weapons Shouldn’t Be America’s Next Big Military Investment
As the United States gears up to spend nearly $7 billion on hypersonic weapons research in Fiscal Year 2025—an increase from $4.7 billion in FY2023—we must ask a fundamental question: What are we sacrificing when we spend billions on weapons that fly faster than Mach 5, but contribute little to real human security?
At Peace Economy Project, we believe that true security doesn’t come from more advanced missiles or faster ways to strike targets across the globe. It comes from ensuring people have access to health care, education, housing, and clean air. Hypersonic weapons threaten not only global stability but also domestic priorities by funneling resources away from urgent human needs.
What Are Hypersonic Weapons?
Hypersonic weapons are missiles designed to travel at speeds exceeding five times the speed of sound. They come in two primary forms:
• Glide vehicles launched by rockets that then glide to their targets
• Cruise missiles powered by air-breathing engines
Unlike traditional ballistic missiles, these systems are maneuverable and difficult to detect in time to defend against them. That may sound like an advantage—until you consider the strategic consequences.
A Budgetary Black Hole
The Pentagon’s hypersonic ambitions are not cheap. In addition to the $6.9 billion requested for hypersonic research in FY2025, the Department of Defense is seeking billions more for long-range strike capabilities that include these weapons. Yet none of these programs have clearly defined missions. Most are still in prototype stages, and some—like the Air Force’s ARRW—have seen high-profile test failures and have already been shelved.
The Missile Defense Agency is spending hundreds of millions more in a desperate bid to build defenses against these very weapons, creating a feedback loop of spending that does little to enhance actual safety.
Do We Even Need Them?
Former military officials claim hypersonic missiles are necessary to deter threats from China or Russia, but unlike those nations, the U.S. is not designing hypersonic systems to carry nuclear warheads—meaning our versions must be far more accurate and technologically complex. According to the report, the Department of Defense hasn’t even decided whether it wants to acquire them permanently.
Risking Strategic Stability
Hypersonic weapons don’t just consume resources—they also destabilize global peace. Their speed and unpredictability compress decision-making timelines for world leaders. A miscalculation could spark conflict. Arms control experts warn that hypersonics blur the line between conventional and nuclear capabilities, increasing the risk of escalation.
The U.S. has no defense against these weapons—yet continues to build them. That’s not a strategy; it’s a gamble.
What Could That Money Do Instead?
Just the $141 billion currently allocated to Pentagon research could instead provide:
- Universal pre-K for five years
- Free school meals for 10 million children for a decade
- Tens of thousands of affordable housing units
- Full Medicaid expansion in every holdout state
And yet, Congress continues to prioritize weapons like hypersonic missiles over people.
Time to Redirect the Money
At Peace Economy Project, we say: enough. We call on Congress to reject hypersonic weapons as a budget priority and to instead invest in true national security—human well-being.
The real crisis isn’t that our weapons are too slow. It’s that our budget is too skewed toward war and away from life.
