Military spending rose 14% over President Biden’s four-year term to $841.4 billion in the fiscal 2024 appropriations bill signed into law last December.
The only air-launched missile with a hypersonic glide vehicle in the Pentagon’s weapons road map sports a history as up and down as its skip-glide trajectory.
The U.S. Air Force launched an All-Up-Round AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon in a recent test but is tight-lipped about whether objectives were met.
U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall says he is encouraged by recent test successes for Lockheed Martin’s Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon, despite having previously expressed concern about the program.
The Booster Test Flight at the Point Mugu Sea Range off California will mark the first of several flight test missile releases to support the Lockheed Martin AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW).
The missile forms a critical element of the Pentagon’s fast-track plan to develop a range of high-speed stand-off strike and cruise weapons to counter new Chinese and Russian hypersonic capabilities.
