PARIS — Hypersonic weapons are likely still decades away from fielding, and the requisite research is best carried out collaboratively among Western nations, according to Kerstin Huber, executive officer for applied vehicle technology at NATO’s Science and Technology Organization.

“I would think it needs another 20 years,” Huber told Defense News on the sidelines of a round table discussion on the technology at the Eurosatory defense show in Paris.

Governments have generally been tight-lipped about hypersonic technology, which could provide an edge over adversaries, or lead to an arms race. Hypersonic missiles are typically defined as flying faster than five times the speed of sound while being maneuverable in atmospheric conditions, and their fundamental challenge is the extreme heat generated during flight.

“With this new type of technology, you will not be able to rush into things,” Huber said during the briefing. “It will take a number of nations, a number of scientists, industries to collaborate in order to tackle the challenges.”

NATO partners should consider working on hypersonic technology within the alliance framework, “because every single nation brings a certain puzzle piece to the bigger picture.” The U.S. has lots of outer space-related infrastructure that will be needed to develop the technology, Australia has the requisite space – geographically speaking – for testing and Europe is strong on materials science and numerical simulation, Huber said.

DefenseNews