Purdue ‘doubling down’ on military research on hypersonic flight, weapons

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue leaders said they were prepared to double down on development of hypersonic technology, telling defense industry representatives that the West Lafayette campus is positioning itself to be a hub for research into military equipment able to travel faster than five times the speed of sound.

The promise came Tuesday at the opening of the inaugural Hypersonics Capabilities Conference, a three-day mix of classified and unclassified sessions on campus organized by the National Defense Industrial Association.

It also came as Purdue made plans to build a Mach 8 wind tunnel and as the university continued to prep ground in the Discovery Park District just west of campus for Saab, after the Swedish company announced plans in May to set up research and manufacturing facilities to build fuselages for the Boeing T-X, touted as the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation jet.

One more factor: The Department of Defense could be in line for $2.4 billion in annual spending on Mach 5 systems, based on its fiscal year 2020 budget request, meaning that research funding could be ripe for universities prepared to take part.

Purdue is “proud to be one that never forgets the public, land grant responsibility in service to this great nation,” Mung Chiang, dean of Purdue’s College of Engineering, told several hundred university researchers and defense contractors in Loeb Playhouse.

“Dictators that shoot bullets into peaceful protesters on the street would not blink at deploying hypersonic weapons across the ocean,” Chiang said. “We’re doubling down our strengths in hypersonics. … Purdue today is proud to be part of Team USA in support of national defense priorities.”

The commitment was welcomed by retired Air Force Gen. Hawk Carlisle, president and chief executive officer of the National Defense Industrial Association.

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The first of three days of sessions – with Tuesday set aside for non-classified discussions and the next two days closed to those with security clearances to take in classified information – painted a picture of an arms race to become the first nation to develop reliable, super-fast and maneuverable weapons and defense systems.

“We at NDIA are spending a lot of time working with academia, which I think, frankly, has not been as engaged in the national security enterprise as it should have been – as it needs to be,” Carlisle said. “Hypersonic capabilities must be national security modernization priorities. We know that. Everyone knows that. Hypersonic capabilities have the potential to transform the way American partners and our adversaries conduct warfare.”

Gov. Eric Holcomb lent weight to Purdue’s potential, telling companies at Loeb Playhouse Tuesday morning that hypersonics was “Indiana’s No. 1, top defense priority.”

“We are primed and ready to lead this hypersonics spring,” Holcomb said.

Purdue already has the Boeing/AFOSR Mach-6 Quiet Tunnel, run by aeronautics professor Steve Schneider and touted in university literature as “the world’s premier wind tunnel facility for studying hypersonic boundary-layer transition.” Purdue’s Office of Technology Commercialization also manages more than 100 patented technologies development by Purdue faculty, according to the university.

Purdue, in a collaboration with Notre Dame, at some point will add a Mach 8 quiet wind tunnel. Those plans are in the works, said Chad Pittman, Purdue Research Foundation vice president.

“The wind tunnel is a critical test facility,” said Theresa Mayer, who will start her job as Purdue next executive vice president for research and partnerships on Aug 1. “But when you look at hypersonics and other technologies, in general, we have strengths that all come together. … Purdue is ready for this.”

Mark Lewis – director of the IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute, a federally funded research and development center – said there was plenty of work to be done in a field that still has many of the same technical questions it has when initial hypersonic research started in the 1980s. Test flights during this century continue to have roughly a 50 percent success rate and financial support has ebbed and flowed over the decades.

Lewis said he predicted a renewed interest in hypersonic flight research would stick, driven in some part by competition and the fear of knowing Russia and China are pursuing similar projects. In China, in particular, he said, the country has been open about its goals, its progress and how it has organized the nation’s universities for the task.

“We haven’t built that deep bench of knowledge at our universities that I think is critical for success in this area,” Lewis said. “I really want to applaud the efforts in building that sort of academic infrastructure and those sorts of collaborations, where we have multiple faculty members working together. That’s the secret to success in this area. … It’s a matter of willpower and funding.”

Pittman said hypersonic research at Purdue could lead to more university-fueled Greater Lafayette announcements in the vein of the Saab plant. (Pittman said recruiting Saab coincided with initial discussions in October to bring the National Defense Industrial Association conference to the West Lafayette campus.)

If there were concerns about a growing military research presence on campus, Purdue officials didn’t indicate it on Tuesday.

“I look at it from a framework that, No. 1., we’re a land grant (institution),” Pittman said, referring to the federal Morrill Act of 1862 that cleared the way to create Purdue and schools like it. “And land grant mission calls out the military arts. No. 2, I think on the positive side, it’s about a safer world. Purdue is positioning itself to help make the world a safer place.”

Reach Dave Bangert at 765-420-5258 or at dbangert@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @davebangert.