US ‘may be sending strong message’ to China with hypersonic missile test as arms race heats up
- US Air Force says its final test of AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon on Sunday ‘intended to further a range of hypersonic programmes’
- US and China expected to continue developing hypersonic weapons while also improving their defensive capabilities to neutralise these systems
A B-52H Stratofortress strategic bomber from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam took part in the test, firing off the ARRW at the Reagan Test Site, a missile range in the Marshall Islands in the western Pacific.
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The US Air Force did not give details about the mission but said in a statement the test launched a full prototype operational hypersonic missile and “focused on the ARRW’s end-to-end performance”.
“While we won’t discuss specific test objectives, this test acquired valuable, unique data and was intended to further a range of hypersonic programmes,” the US Air Force said.
Lockheed Martin’s ARRW is a hypersonic air-to-ground missile with a maximum speed exceeding Mach 5. It is one of the US Air Force’s two main hypersonic weapons programmes, along with the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM).
Lockheed Martin said the company had completed the test programme with “full confidence” and “success” and was ready to “rapidly” deliver the missile to the US Air Force.
