ARRW hypersonic
missile test failed, US Air Force admits
Mar 28, 07:37 PM
A B-52H Stratofortress takes off from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to conduct a test of the AGM-183A Instrumented Measurement Vehicle 2 prototype. (Matt Williams/U.S. Air Force)
WASHINGTON
— The U.S. Air Force’s March 13 test of a
hypersonic weapon was “not a success,” the service secretary told
lawmakers Tuesday.
Frank
Kendall indicated the Lockheed Martin-made AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response
Weapon program may be in jeopardy. The service, he said, is “more committed to
HACM [the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile, the service’s other major
hypersonic weapon program] at this point in time than we are to ARRW.”
The
ARRW effort “has struggled a little bit in its testing program,” Kendall told
the House Appropriations Committee’s defense panel during a hearing on the
fiscal 2024 budget request. He said an ultimate decision on whether to continue
with the program could come as part of the FY25 budget process next year
following a study of the failed March test and possibly two more test launches.
Hypersonic
weapons travel at speeds topping Mach 5 and are highly maneuverable, making
them difficult to track and shoot down. China and Russia have invested
considerable resources in developing these weapons for their militaries, and
several U.S. lawmakers have expressed concern that the country is not doing
enough to field its own hypersonic capabilities.
The
Air Force on Friday revealed it had conducted the second test launch of a fully
operational prototype ARRW off the coast of southern California earlier this
month.
But
the Air Force did not reveal details about the test or its success in that
statement, only saying it met “several of the objectives.” That language
differed from an Air Force statement in December about a previous ARRW test, in which the service said
the weapon’s release was successful and met all objectives.
The
Air Force declined to comment further on the March test and its results when
contacted Friday by Defense News.
Kendall
did not detail how the March 13 test fell short in his testimony.
“We did not get the data that we needed from that
test,” he told lawmakers. “They’re currently examining that, trying to
understand what happened.”
Kendall
said the Dec. 9 ARRW test, which was also with an operational prototype, was “a
very successful flight, which was a big step forward before the one that just
occurred.”
The
Air Force has two more ARRW prototypes it plans to test after the studies on
the failed test are done, Kendall said.
“We’ll probably have to make a decision on the
fate of ARRW after we complete the analysis, and hopefully do those two tests,”
Kendall said. “We’ll revisit it, I think, as we build the ’25 budget to see
what will be done in the future.”
The
Air Force received nearly $115 million in research, development, test and
evaluation funds for ARRW in FY23, down from $308 million the previous year.
The service has requested $150 million in RDT&E funds for ARRW in FY24 —
but no procurement funds, and budget documents are silent on what the program’s
R&D funding could be in subsequent years.
However,
HACM received $423 million in FY23, and the Air Force wants to spend nearly
$382 million on that program’s RDT&E in FY24. The service’s budget
documents map out a plan for spending nearly $1.5 billion more on HACM between
FY25 and FY28.
Kendall
said HACM — an air-launched, boost-glide missile system based on technology the
Air Force developed with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — has
been “reasonably successful.”
“We see a definite role for the HACM concept,”
Kendall said. “It’s compatible with more of our aircraft, and it will give us
more combat capability overall.”
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