The failure of the March test of Lockheed Martin’s prototype hypersonic missile, the AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Reaction Weapon (ARRW) or “Arrow”, has led to the US military’s decision not to use it. Although the prototype reached a peak speed of five times the speed of sound in December, it was unable to report flight performance data during its second test in March. This decision is a blow to US efforts to keep up with China and Russia on hypersonic weapons, which are considered a critical capability.
A setback for US national security.
The US’s ability to develop hypersonic weapons is important to maintaining a technological advantage over its rivals, but this failure is a setback for those efforts. Although Lockheed Martin has stated that it will continue to work on hypersonic technology to meet critical national security needs, the decision not to continue production of the ARRW is a blow to the company.
Technical problems experienced during the March test, which led to the US Army’s decision not to use the prototype, included the weapon’s inability to communicate in-flight performance data. This affected the army’s ability to gather essential information to assess missile performance. Although the military did not mention these problems in its March statement, media reports suggest that the failure of the test was largely due to this problem.
US efforts to keep up with the hypersonic arms race
The hypersonic arms race is heating up rapidly, and both Russia and China have already developed working hypersonic weapons. Therefore, the US has been working on hypersonic weapons projects to keep up with this race. The failure of the Arrow prototype is a blow to those efforts.
Despite the failure of the Arrow prototype, research on hypersonic weapons does not stop. Both DARPA and the US military are working on other hypersonic weapons projects, such as the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) program and DARPA’s Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC). Experts believe that the data and lessons learned from the Arrow trial will be valuable in guiding these efforts in the future.
