The US Air Force disappoints Lockheed Martin and rewards Raytheon on hypersonic missiles
The USAF will not acquire the AGM-183A ARRW (Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon) hypersonic missile developed by Lockheed Martin. US officials signal increased support for rival Raytheon's Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) program
The US Air Force intends to end Lockheed Martin's hypersonic weapons program.
The USAF will not purchase the AGM-183A hypersonic weapon system Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon ("ARRW") after the end of the prototyping phase, following problems during tests. Air Force Procurement Manager, Assistant Secretary for the Air Force Andrew Hunter communicated this a week ago in a document presented to the House Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces.
The official comes after the test of the Agm-183A Arrw experimental hypersonic missile carried out by the United States Air Force on March 13 failed. This was admitted by the Secretary of State for the Air Force, Frank Kendall, during a hearing of the Assignments Committee of the US House of Representatives relating to the appropriations for Defense for the fiscal year 2024.
Unlike ballistic missiles, which fly at hypersonic speeds but travel along a set trajectory, hypersonic weapons are highly maneuverable despite flying at Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. China and Russia have invested significant resources in developing these weapons for their militaries, and several US lawmakers have expressed concern that the country is not doing enough to field its own hypersonic capabilities.
“This decision brings to 2 the number of air-launched hypersonic weapon systems developed and abandoned by the USAF, which at this point looks set to be the last of the 3 American Weapons to deploy an operational hypersonic weapon” comments Rid – Rivista Italiana Defense .
All the details.
AIR FORCE DISRUPT LOCKHEED MARTIN'S ARRW PROGRAM
The Air Force does not currently "intend to pursue the next procurement" of the weapon known as the ARRW, though it will conduct two additional flight tests to accumulate important data, Andrew Hunter said.
So the military will still finish the last two full-round test flights of the ARRW program to gather data to help with future hypersonic programs.
THE TEST FAILED IN MARCH
The announcement that the US Air Force Chief of Procurement had terminated Lockheed Martin's ARRW program comes after Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in another hearing that a March test had failed. “The March 13 test was important because it is the second of four planned for the operational hypersonic missile prototype. It was the best hypersonic program in the service and intended to compete with already successful Russian and Chinese programs,” Bloomberg noted.
Kendall told the House Appropriations Committee defense committee that the March 13 ARRW test was "not a success" and that the program had "struggled a bit in its testing process."
AND ACCUMULATED DELAYS
As Defense News recalls, “Kendall has long expressed skepticism about the ARRW program, as it has experienced delays and failed tests. The program also suffered a string of three test failures in 2021.” And in March 2022, after Congress passed a 2022 tax bill that struck plans to purchase ARRW missiles that year and instead funded more research and development, Kendall said “ARRW must yet to prove himself". In 2023, funds of 115 million dollars were foreseen for research and development against 300 in the previous two years.
WE PROCEED WITH THE HACM OF RAYTHEON
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall added that the Air Force still wants to conduct the other two ARRW tests with its remaining prototypes to continue gathering information for the development of hypersonic air-launched weapons. At the same time, he also specified that the Air Force is "more involved" in the hypersonic attack cruise missile Hacm (Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile) built by Raytheon. “Raytheon's weapon flies by itself while the ARRW launches from a rocket before the warhead separates and glides at hypersonic speed towards a target” Bloomberg continues.
And Raytheon's program obtained funding of 423 million in 2023 but the USAF expects the allocation of 381 million dollars in the 2024 fiscal year to continue the rapid prototyping work for the cruise missile.
"We see a definite role" for the Raytheon missile, Kendall said since "it is compatible with several of our aircraft and will give us greater combat capability in general".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/laeronautica-usa-delude-lockheed-martin-e-premia-raytheon-sui-missili-ipersonici/ on Fri, 07 Apr 2023 11:01:20 +0000.