US Air Force Carries Out Test of Air-launched Hypersonic Missile

By Staff, Agencies

The US Air Force carried out the first successful test of its complete air launched hypersonic missile, the Air Force said in a statement, a program that had previously suffered a series of setbacks because of testing failures.

A full prototype of the Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon, known in short as ARRW, was launched from a B-52 off the coast of California on Friday.

The AGM-183A missile achieved hypersonic speeds more than five times the speed of sound and it detonated in the terminal area, the 96th Test Wing said. All of the objectives of the test were met, according to the Air Force.

The ARRW is a boost-glide missile that uses a booster rocket to accelerate a projectile to hypersonic speeds. A glide vehicle then separates from the booster and uses inertia to travel to its target at hypersonic speeds.

This test was the first of the entire system, known as an All-Up-Round test. Previous launches focused on the booster rocket.

The ARRW missile suffered a series of failures in testing last year, forcing the Air Force to delay the project. The Air Force described the failures as “anomalies.”

The Pentagon has placed an increased emphasis on the testing and development of hypersonic weapons, especially as China and Russia have shown advancements in their own programs.