The U.S. Air Force has conducted a successful flight test of the newest air-launched hypersonic boost-glide vehicle, called the AGM-183A Air Launched Rapid Response Weapon, or ARRW.
AGM-183A ARRW was flown aboard a B-52 Stratofortress bomber at Edwards Air Force Base, California. A sensor-only version of the ARRW prototype was carried externally by a B-52 during the test to gather environmental and aircraft handling data.
The test gathered data on drag and vibration impacts on the weapon itself and on the external carriage equipment of the aircraft. The prototype did not have explosives and it was not released from the B-52 during the flight test. This type of data collection is required for all Air Force weapon systems undergoing development. The AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) is a hypersonic strike weapon developed by the US Air Force (USAF) to counter the latest generation weapons developed by both China and Russia. The new weapon will consists of a rocket booster that will deliver a hypersonic glider warhead into high altitude and then the warhead will descend at speeds of up to Mach 20 to strike a ground target. The AGM-183A missile might be deployed by bombers such as B-1, B-2 and B-52 as well as the planned B-21. The USAF issued a development contract worth $480 million to Lockheed Martin in August 2018 to be completed in November 2021
