David Wright

Laboratory for Nuclear Science and Policy, MIT

Zoom link: https://mit.zoom.us/j/92752596480

Abstract: This talk will follow on to the webinar Cameron Tracy gave in this series last October, which was based on this paper: http://scienceandglobalsecurity.org/archive/sgs28tracy.pdf The current webinar will begin by discussing the evolution of the US hypersonics program and its mission since 2000. This shift in mission has led to programs to develop hypersonic weapons having ranges up to a couple thousand kilometers, rather than the longer range systems envisioned previously. The talk will discuss how the technical issues raised in the above paper for longer range hypersonic weapons apply to these shorter range systems. One focus will be on what is required for these weapons to evade missile defenses, and how that can affect their detectability to satellite sensors.

Bio: David Wright is a Research Affiliate in the MIT Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering’s Laboratory for Nuclear Security and Policy. From 1992 to 2020 he was a researcher with the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, serving as co-director of the program from 2002 to 2020. Previously he held research positions in the Defense and Arms Control/Security Studies Program at MIT, the Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and the Federation of American Scientists. He received his PhD in theoretical condensed matter physics from Cornell University in 1983 and worked as a research physicist until 1988. He has worked on arms control and international security issues, researching technical aspects of nuclear weapons policy, missile defense systems, missile proliferation, hypersonic weapons, and space weapons.

From 1990 to 2019, he was a primary organizer of the International Summer Symposiums on Science and World Affairs, which fostered cooperation among scientists around the world working on arms control and security issues. He was a co-recipient of the 2001 American Physical Society’s Joseph A. Burton Forum Award for his arms control research and his work with international scientists. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.