Failure of USA’s first hypersonic weapon launch
The launch for USA Air force’s first Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon commonly known as ARRW, has been declared unsuccessful in April 2021. The mission was set to be placed at USA Air Force base, California, but due to some technical glitches in the aircraft, the booster test vehicle failed to launch the hypersonic weapon followed by B-52 bomber. While the given statement from Edwards Air Force Base recorded as “The test missile was not able to complete its launch sequence and was safely retained on the aircraft which returned here”, the matter became a serious concern for a debate between the defense critics over its failure in the very initial process. The ARRW launch was part of Pentagon’s hypersonic weapon mission. Although, its first flight with an inactive ARRW prototype aircraft was tested in June 2019. During the time, the ARRW aircraft was tested over seven times carrying hypersonic weapons but none of them were decided to be launched in tested timings.
The Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon having a maximum speed from Mach 5 to Mach 20 is developed by USA’ top defense company Lockheed Martin to aim USA Air force’s first hypersonic weapon grant.
