US acknowledges another unsuccessful hypersonic test

The US Air Force has revealed at least the fourth failed test of a hypersonic missile system made by Lockheed Martin, suggesting that it is more likely to adopt a competing system built by Raytheon. Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall told members of a US House committee that the March 13 test of the AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) was not a success. His comments may have come as a surprise to lawmakers because the Air Force issued a press release last week indicating that the test "met several objectives." The ARRW has been under development since 2018 and was delayed after three failed booster tests in 2021. The Air Force claimed the first successful launch of the missile last May, saying it reached speeds exceeding Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. US forces don't yet have a fully operational hypersonic missile system, but the Air Force is "more committed" to its other hypersonic program, the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM).

A budgeting decision on whether to adopt the ARRW is expected to be made next year, after as many as two more test launches. The Air Force has received $423 million in research and development funding for the ARRW in the past two years, and it has requested an additional $150 million in the budget for its next fiscal year. The HACM program has been "reasonably successful" so far, and the Air Force plans an additional $1.9 billion in spending over the next five years.