The U.S. Air Force has finished tests of the booster performance of a hypersonic weapon system that Lockheed Martin designed to help the service reach time-sensitive targets.
USAF put the Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon through another test off the Southern California coast, nearly two months after the prior demonstration took place, the branch said Wednesday.
Tuesday’s flight test was the second time that the ARRW had flown captively on a B-52H Stratofortress bomber aircraft. The first one was completed on May 14.
“We have now completed our booster test series and are ready to move forward to all-up-round testing later this year,” said Brig. Gen. Heath Collins, program executive officer for weapons and director of USAF’s armament directorate.
Lockheed expects the AGM-183A AARW system to reach early operational capability status sometime in 2023.
