The U.S. Air Force plans flight tests of the RTX [RTX] air-breathing Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) in fiscal 2025, as the service mulls a legacy for the development of the Lockheed Martin [LMT] AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), the service said.
Air Force “senior leadership continues to review Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon test results and pursue the development of advancing hypersonic capabilities,” the Air Force said in an email response to questions this week. “The Air Force is using authorities provided in Section 804 of the FY 2016 NDAA to rapidly prototype a hypersonic weapon and the prototyping program will complete in fiscal year 2024. There is no timeline established to make a production decision. We are committed to completing the test program phase and delivering a leave behind capability.”
The Air Force had said that the March 17 third all-up-round test (AUR) of ARRW was the last in the rapid prototyping series for the missile, but industry analysts have suggested since the March test that it may not mark the end of the road for ARRW development and possible production (Defense Daily, March 28).
Ten days before the March 17 firing of the prototype ARRW from a B-52H bomber at the Reagan Test Site, Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter told reporters that “there are advantages to multiple different approaches to hypersonics, and it’s all about how you get after specific target sets that are the most readily served by a hypersonic vehicle.”
The Air Force said this week that “work continues on” HACM and that the latter “is slated for flight test activities in Fiscal Year 2025.”
In September 2022, the Air Force awarded RTX–then Raytheon–a $985 million contract for HACM (Defense Daily, Sept. 22, 2022). The company beat out Lockheed Martin and Boeing [BA] for the award.