WASHINGTON —Today, Rep. Jim Banks (IN-03), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Military Personnel and co-chair of the House Hypersonics Caucus, passed an amendment in the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act prioritizing the Navy’s hypersonics program.
Read the amendment here.
Background:
Indiana is a national hub for hypersonics development and Purdue University recently opened a first-of-its-kind hypersonics Applied Research Facility.
The Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) system, the Navy’s main hypersonic program, has no one-star or two-star flag officer billets, disincentivizing servicemembers from serving at CPS and undermining its talent pipeline.
Rep. Banks’ amendment directs the Secretary of Defense and Chief of Naval Operations to develop a plan to re-allocate a one star billet to serve as director of CPS.
Rep. Banks previously authored language in the NDAA authorizing the DoD’s Joint Hypersonics Transition Office.
