Hypersonic Innovation

Conference


November 12-13, 2025 | Huntsville, AL

ABOUT THE 
HYPERSONIC INNOVATION CONFERENCE

Defense Strategies Institute’s 4th Annual Hypersonic Innovation Conference will support the United States’ ability to develop & operationalize hypersonic weapons as well as defend against incoming missile threats. The 2025 Conference will highlight hypersonic technology research, development, and innovations across the United States that will enable strategic and operational superiority for the Joint Force.


Hypersonic weapons, which are developed and engineered to fly faster than Mach 5, be highly maneuverable against enemy air defenses, and able to attack time-sensitive targets — are and continue to be a critical technology area for the Pentagon as U.S. military services try to match rapidly modernizing adversaries. Speakers from across the DoD will stress how building & defending against hypersonic weapons will be vital to preserving national security & ensuring Warfighters have the capabilities needed to win in the multi-domain battlespace.

2025 CONFIRMED SPEAKERS INCLUDE:

Event Moderator 
General James “Jim” McConville, USA (Ret)
Former Chief of Staff, United States Army, Operating Partner, AE Industrial Partners

James Weber, ST

 Principal Director for Hypersonics, OUSD R&E

Robert Baurle, PhD, ST
Senior Scientist for Hypersonics, Aerospace Systems Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory

Dr. Gillian Bussey
Deputy Chief Science Officer, US Space Force 

 Mr. James R. (JR) Ross Director, Global Deterrence and Defense Department, NSWC Crane

Sarah Armstrong, PhD
Director, Joint Hypersonics Transition Office Systems Engineering Field Activity, NSWC Crane

Kerri Phillips, PhD
Chief Scientist, Air and Missile Defense Sector, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Dr. Rodney Bowersox, PhD
Director, Texas A&M National Aerothermochemistry and Hypersonic Flight Laboratory and Deputy Director,
Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station

Dr. John Schmisseur
Associate Dean and Executive Director, University of Tennessee Space Institute

Dr. Henry Everitt
Senior Technologist for Optical Sciences & HITS Team Lead, DEVCOM ARL 

Kareem Ahmed, PhD

Professor, Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research Faculty; Director, UCF Center of Excellence in Hypersonics and Space Propulsion

Wesley Harris, PhD
Lab Advisor, Hypersonics Research Lab, MIT Lincoln Lab

WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND

Since the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering named hypersonics as a critical technology area in 2018, the Department of Defense has continually prioritized it as a technology that has the potential to shift the balance of military power in an era of Strategic Competition. The 2025 Hypersonic Innovation Conference will bring together senior leaders from across the community to explore how to develop, test, and transition hypersonic weapons to enhance deterrence and enable warfighting advantage. 


The FY 2025 Budget requests nearly $30 billion in funding for US missile defense capabilities and $7 billion for hypersonic programs over the next year. This funding is meant to support the United States’ ability to develop, deploy, and defend against hypersonic weapons and missile threats. Adversaries such as China and Russia have both already demonstrated hypersonic weapons capabilities, which pose a destabilizing threat to the United States because their high speed and maneuverability make them incredibly difficult to detect, track, and intercept in real time. Leaders at this year’s Conference will highlight the need to strengthen missile defense systems with advanced signals and radars, hypersonic-tracking satellites, and early detection systems. Speakers will also address how hypersonic weapons enable responsive, long-range, strike options against denied, highly defended targets. Further, sessions will explore how the DoD prioritizes investments in hypersonic development and deployment, including researching high-heat, advanced materials, supporting robust testing and evaluation measures and infrastructures, and next-generation, leap-ahead capabilities. 


Join us at the 2025 Hypersonic Innovation Conference to contribute to advancing hypersonic technologies for enhanced deterrence and security. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions of, meet with, and engage with leaders across DoD, federal government, academia, and industry to learn about the future of hypersonic innovation. DSI’s team specializes in the extensive research and development of our Symposiums’ content and focus areas, and we will assemble the most respected minds in hypersonic and missile defense as well as key policy makers across military and civilian offices. Our non-partisan approach allows us to reach across all services and organizations to bring together a holistic group of decision-makers and solution providers.


KEY TOPICS OF DISCUSSION:

  • Championing Space-Enabled Combat Effects to Ensure Space Superiority for Joint Warfighters Around the World
  • Accelerating Hypersonic Technology Innovation to Enhance Conventional Deterrence and Precision Strike
  • Breaking Barriers: Driving Technological Advances in Hypersonic Flight and Weapons Systems
  • Guiding the DoD’s Development and Integration of Hypersonic Weapons and Platforms
  • Accelerating Hypersonic Weapons Development with Robust Testing & Evaluation
  • Developing Hypersonic Missiles to Deliver Strategic Overmatch Capability to the Joint Force
  • Leveraging Hypersonic Innovation to Meet Evolving Threats and Modernize Naval Capabilities

2025 Premier Sponsors