JAKARTA - The Pentagon announced that the United States military had successfully tested two hypersonic missiles from Lockheed Martin Corp recently, amid concerns about the progress of Russia and China in developing the same weapon.
The US Air Force confirmed that it successfully tested an Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) booster Tuesday off the coast of California. Reuters reported an earlier ARRW test on Wednesday in which the booster was carried aloft under the B-52H's wing prior to launch. In previous tests, the weapon did not detach from the aircraft.
"This second successful test demonstrated the ARRW's ability to reach and withstand operational hypersonic speeds, gather critical data for use in further flight tests, and validate safe separation from the aircraft," Lockheed said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Air Force Brigadier General Heath Collins, program executive officer, Armaments Directorate, said, "We have now completed our series of booster tests and are ready to advance to full testing later this year." That includes boosters and warheads.
Hypersonic weapons travel in the upper atmosphere at more than five times the speed of sound, or about 6,200 km (3,853 miles) per hour.
In a separate hypersonic weapon test, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) confirmed that it had successfully conducted the first test of the Operational Fires hypersonic weapon.
The tests were conducted at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The successful test shows progress among various US hypersonic weapons development efforts, which in some cases have been beset by failed tests, rising questions about costs, and growing concerns that the United States is falling behind in what has become a superpower arms race.
Operational Fires is a ground-launched system that will "quickly and precisely strike critical and time-sensitive targets while penetrating modern enemy air defenses." DARPA has requested and received $45 million for OpFires in fiscal 2022.
One of Lockheed Martin's concepts for DARPA weapons is to use existing High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers, such as those delivered to Ukraine, to launch weapons.
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The successful test came after the June 29 failed test flight of a different type of hypersonic weapon, the Common Hypersonic Glide Body, at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii.
Defense contractors hope to capitalize on the switch to hypersonic weapons not only by building them, but also by developing new detection and defeat mechanisms.
Arms makers like Lockheed, Northrop Grumman Corp and Raytheon Technologies Corp have all touted their hypersonic weapons programs to investors, as the world's focus shifts to a new arms race for an emerging class of weapons.
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