The US Air Force (USAF) conducted what might be the last test launch of a hypersonic AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) on 17 March 2024. The all-up-round AGM-183A, which is made by Lockheed Martin, was launched over the Reagan Test Site, located near Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, from a B-52H strategic bomber operating out of Andersen Air Force Base on Guam.
“This test launched a full prototype operational hypersonic missile and focused on the ARRW’s end-to-end performance,” according to a USAF statement issued on 20 March. “The Air Force gained valuable insights into the capabilities of this new, cutting-edge technology,” the statement added without giving further details, including whether the test was deemed a success.
However, the USAF had already announced after a failed flight test in March 2023 that it was cancelling plans to procure the AGM-183A: a stark turnaround from a statement made on 4 December 2022 saying that the ARRW was “scheduled to be operational as early as fall 2023”.
The AGM-183 all-up-round (AUR) consists of a booster rocket that, once released by the carrying aircraft, ignites and accelerates to hypersonic speed before releasing a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) capable of sustained flight speeds between Mach 6.5 and Mach 8. The weapon is believed to have an operational range of around 1,600 km.
The AGM-183A ARRW programme began with the US fiscal year 2016 (FY16) National Defense Authentication Act section 804 Rapid Prototyping, Rapid Fielding programme expediting its swift development.
After three initial failures in which the weapon was twice not released and on the third attempt did not fire its engine, the USAF announced that on 14 May 2022 that it had successfully released an ARRW. Another successful release demonstration followed on 12 July 2022 and then, on 9 December 2022, a full AUR AGM-183A was successfully launched.
On 13 March 2023, however, the launch of an operational AGM-183A prototype was a failure while, following tests on 19 August 2023 and 12 October 2023, the USAF issued its standard “gained valuable new insights into the capabilities” of ARRW statement, suggesting the tests had been less than fully successful.
On 29 March 2023 Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics) Andrew Hunter revealed to a US House of Representatives subcommittee that the AGM-183A programme would not proceed. He added, though, that the ARRW programme’s last two AUR test flights would proceed in order to collect data that could inform future hypersonic missile programmes.
On 9 December 2023 the launch of a full prototype operational AGM-183 “reached hypersonic speeds greater than five times the speed of sound, completed its flight path and detonated in the terminal area”, according to a USAF statement, which added that “indications show that all objectives were met”.
The last AUR AGM-183A test was then made on 17 March 2024.
