Naval Postgraduate School Joins Consortium for Applied Hypersonics Research > United States Navy > News-Stories

“This is a real milestone for NPS,” said retired US Navy Capt. John Hammerer, NPS Chair of Integrated Air and Missile Defense. “We are now in the hypersonic research community and have access to all the resources and research from the universities and industries that are part of the University Consortium of Applied Hypersonics.”

The consortium promotes collaborations with more than 100 universities and 150 industrial partners working on hypersonics. UCAH’s mission is to meet the Department of Defense’s needs in science and technology, workforce development, and technology transition by mobilizing and leveraging the academic community and its partners to provide solutions for Department of Defense-defined research and prototyping projects.

NPS also brings unique assets to UCAH, with facilities that enable world-class research, the rocket propulsion and turbo propulsion labs, and the unique experience of our students.

“The unique capability we bring to this consortium is that we have officers with operational experience in integrated air and missile defense and strike warfare,” Hammerer said. “They performed operations in the real world. You understand the threat. They understand how this mission is carried out.”

This is especially important to NPS’ Admiral Wayne E. Meyer Scholars, who excels in the technical fundamentals of Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD). The Meyer Fellows recently spent six months conducting detailed hypersonic threat studies, research, development, and operational concepts. They understand the basics of the technology and integrate it into operational applications.

“Hypersonic is high on the priority list of DOD research, our participation in UCAH is tangible evidence that NPS is focused on the most important work in DOD,” said Dr. Kevin Smith, NPS Vice Provost for Research.

“UCAH membership provides NPS with a wide range of opportunities to engage in basic and applied research that is essential to helping the United States remain competitive with our adversaries in this challenging discipline,” Smith added added.

Smith went on to say that the NPS war scientists working in the discipline will return to operational commands with executive expertise, which is also a benefit of technology spinoffs.

“The national hypersonic effort will undoubtedly yield advances in many existing and emerging technologies with applications that can help solve operational warfare problems,” noted Smith. “NPS’ participation in UCAH can help accelerate the transition of these technologies to operational applications.”

The consortium has already encouraged collaboration between NPS and two members of UCAH, the University of Arizona and North Carolina State University, based on the capabilities available at NPS.

“The formation of UCAH demonstrates the importance of partnerships between academia, industry, laboratories and research centers for the DOD in addressing national security challenges,” said Smith. “Such partnerships are at the heart of the innovation strategy being developed at NPS. We are very pleased to become a member of this important consortium of partners.”

Founded in 2020, UCAH is a five-year, $100 million consortium funded by the Joint Hypersonics Transition Office. UCAH membership is an important part of expanding and leveraging the defense-focused NPS innovation ecosystem with academic partners. The consortium is led by Dr. Rodney Bowersox, who serves as Associate Dean for Research for the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station.