After Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Andrew P. Hunter told the House Armed Services Committee that the Pentagon would cancel Lockheed Martin’s ARRW (AGM-183A) program, there is one viable hypersonic missile option for the U.S. narrowed down to
The United States is committed to acquiring hypersonic weapons as soon as possible so that it can overcome long distances over the Pacific and penetrate enemy defenses with missiles capable of flying well over five times the speed of sound. I’m here.
Such a capability would surely revolutionize warfare as much as the development of supersonic flight in the late 1940s. However, hypersonics is a very advanced school of aerospace engineering to master. It’s not just a matter of flying very fast hard enough. That also means developing the materials, sensors, avionics, and control mechanisms that could make such missiles a viable weapon.
In other words, the development of hypersonic aircraft is prohibitively expensive, and in a world where Ukrainian aggression and China’s growing aggressiveness are spurring global arms purchases and rapidly deploying more advanced military systems. , should be prioritized.
For the US hypersonic program, Lockheed’s ARRW (AGM-183A) was something of a mixed bag, whose success was marred by a series of failed test flights. With an estimated $18 million manufacturing cost for each missile, there is a very strong incentive to do it right.
As a result, Secretary Hunter told a House committee in testimony on March 29 that the US Air Force would not advance ARRW missiles. Instead, in the 2024 budget, he was requesting $150.3 million in research, development, testing, and evaluation (RDT&E) funding to complete an already-ongoing rapid prototyping program. Although ARRW will not be used, there are arguments that it will provide valuable data for the ongoing Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) and future programs.
Source: U.S. Government
