United States Air Force conducts final test of its AGM-183A hypersonic missile

News, US March 22, 2024 , by IRIA No Comments

The United States Air Force (USAF) announced that it carried out, what it expects to be, the final test for its AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapons (ARRW). The service did not say whether the test was successful or not.

In a statement released by the U.S. Air Force spokesperson, it was announced that the test was carried out using a B-52H Stratofortress subsonic bomber jet. The bomber carrying the fully functional prototype of the ARRW hypersonic missile flew from the Anderson Air Force base near Guam, while the test was carried out at the Reagan Test Site, an Army facility in the Marshall Islands.

The statement added that the test was conducted to gain “valuable insights into the capabilities,” however, it failed to narrow down the objectives of the test. Though the U.S. Air Force called the test a ‘success’, it did not disclose the speed the weapon flew.

“This test acquired valuable, unique data and was intended to further a range of hypersonic programs,” the USAF spokesperson said in a statement. “We also validated and improved our test and evaluation capabilities for continued development of advanced hypersonic systems.”

In a follow-up statement the U.S. defense manufacturer and the producer of the ARRW hypersonic missile, Lockheed Martin, said “Following the recent end-to-end flight test, Lockheed Martin has completed the test program with full confidence in ARRW’s revolutionary capabilities, and we stand ready to deliver this fully-qualified, hypersonic solution to the U.S. Air Force,”

*^{A B-52H Stratofortress assigned to the 419th Flight Test Squadron takes off from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. U.S. (Image Credit: U.S. Air Force/Matt Williams)}*

“Building on ARRW’s industry-leading technology and testing success, Lockheed Martin can quickly deliver additional hypersonic-strike assets that can be rapidly deployed to the U.S. military,” the company added.

US hypersonic ambitions

The U.S. Department of Defense is currently pursuing two types of hypersonic weapons technologies, the boost-glide systems that place a maneuverable glide vehicle atop a ballistic missile or booster and cruise missiles that would use highspeed scramjets to travel at hypersonic speeds. The ARRW is known as a hypersonic boost-glide weapon system.

AGM-183A ARRW stands as one of the Air Force’s primary initiatives aimed at crafting an air-launched hypersonic weapon capable of surpassing speeds greater than Mach 5 while maintaining exceptional maneuverability.

Both China and Russia have made significant investments in developing their hypersonic weaponry, thereby prompting the U.S. Congress to exert pressure on the Pentagon to demonstrate more substantial advancements in deploying similar capabilities for the United States.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall last year told the U.S. lawmakers in his testimony that the ARRW program had “struggled” in testing, shortly after a March 2023 test failed.

*^{Rendering of an AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) showing its hypersonic glide warhead. (Image Credit: Lockheed Martin)}*

American defense contractors are hoping to capitalize on the country’s growing need for hypersonic weapons. A string of successful and unsuccessful tests for hypersonic missiles has been observed in recent times as the Pentagon ramps up its effort to acquire a locally produced hypersonic weapon.