US Hypersonic Weapons Program: The Failure of the AGM-183 ARRW

Introduction

Since the early 2000s, the United States has pursued the development of hypersonic missiles, but because of the budget cuts after the Cold War, the programs have come to a halt. However, the US recently awoke to an alarming global situation: Russia and China are becoming increasingly aggressive and have developed their own hypersonic missiles. The US, desperate to continue its world dominance, doggedly pursued its hypersonic missile programs, creating 6 new programs in 2018, one of which is the AGM-183 ARRW.

What Coins The Term “Hypersonic”?

When something is traveling at a hypersonic speed, the object is traveling greater than or equal to Mach 5, which is 5 times than the speed of sound. It is also classified as a range of speeds in which specific heat capacity changes with the temperature of the flow as kinetic energy of the moving object is converted into heat. Hypersonic flow also features characteristics such as shock layers, aerodynamic heating, low density effects, real gas effects and entropy layer. These troublesome obstacles make it a huge challenge for engineers to design effective hypersonic weapons.

What Is A Guided Missile?

Guided missiles are projectiles intended as ranged airborne weapons. They are capable of self-flight and are powered by jet or rocket engines. Guided missiles are different from unguided ones because of their internal guidance system, which consists of flight controls, guidance computer and sensors. These guidance systems guide the missile to the target’s most probable position, which is calculated using deviations of the target’s position, speed and course, and their variations. With such a sophisticated guidance system, guided missiles are one of the most famed and dangerous weapons on earth today.

What Makes A Hypersonic Missile Unique?

Hypersonic missiles are guided missiles that travel at hypersonic speeds. These missiles can evade air defense systems and are extremely hard to intercept. Hypersonic missiles are also extremely maneuverable despite going at speeds where air becomes superheated to a point where it becomes plasma. They use ramjets, scramjet, or glide vehicle technology. A ramjet is a type of air-breathing engine that relies on the ram effect, or the compressing effect that takes advantage of the relative velocity between the intake (assumed moving) and the air flowing into the intake (dynamic air pressure). Hence the ramjet doesn’t need any moving parts, such as turbine and compressor to generate thrust, as the air moving into the combustion chamber is already compressed due to the ram effect. The only downside to ramjets is the fact that it doesn’t generate thrust while stationary. Scramjets are ramjets that combust air flowing into the engine at supersonic speeds, hence the name scramjet, where “sc” means “supersonic combustion”, while hypersonic glide vehicles are unpowered and supermaneuverable, using a rocket motor to reach the desired speeds. 

What About Ballistic Missiles? Are They Hypersonic Weapons?

Ballistic missiles are guided missiles that follow a ballistic, or arced trajectory. They are often deployed with nuclear warheads because of their extreme range. When descending from their maximum altitude, the missiles travel between Mach 10 and Mach 20, putting them in the “hypersonic” category. But since ballistic missiles follow an arced trajectory, they aren’t very maneuverable without burning up and are easy to intercept. Because of this, ballistic missiles are not considered hypersonic weapons.

Why Have World Powers Pursued Hypersonic Missiles?

The world has just recently discovered hypersonic missile technology, but the wealthiest of countries could afford to invest in these missiles. The United States, China, Russia and other world powers all have hypersonic missile programs for a common purpose: to render modern air defenses useless while delivering a lethal payload to their target. 

The US Hypersonics Program and the Failure of the AGM-183 ARRW

The United States began its research on hypersonic weapons in 2005 with the introduction of the Boeing X-51 Waverider. The missile is the record holder for the longest sustained hypersonic flight for an unmanned aircraft. Using this knowledge, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) proposed a hypersonic missile technology demonstrator in 2008, also known as Blackswift. The Blackswift project was ultimately canceled in 2009 due to a lack of funding. 

After the cancellation of Blackswift, the United States loosened up on the development of hypersonic missiles. Russia and China, however, didn’t give up. In 2019, China’s DF-ZF hypersonic glide vehicle entered service, and in the same year Russia’s Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle entered service, forcing the United States to regroup it’s hypersonic missile program.

In 2020, Donald Trump announced the creation of a “super duper missile” that was 17 times faster than any missile in the US arsenal. Military analysts assumed this missile was the AGM-183 ARRW, then in development by Lockheed Martin. The missile was slated to reach a maximum speed of Mach 7 and had a range of 1000 miles. It was the hype of the US hypersonic weapons program, intending to be a rapid response weapon capable of being launched from a variety of currently existing aircraft in the United States’ Arsenal.

Is the US Hypersonics Program Doomed?

In March of 2023, after lots of consecutive failed tests, the US Air Force announced the cancellation of the AGM-183 ARRW, a supposedly huge blow to the US hypersonic weapons program, until it was announced that the data from the failed flights would go into the remaining hypersonic weapons, most notably, the HACM (Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile), which used a scramjet engine. The data would also be used in other hypersonic weapons programs throughout the US Armed Forces. Despite being a failure, the effort that was used to develop the ARRW was not in vain. The ARRW, along with all other projects of the US hypersonic weapons program, played a significant part in pushing the US military towards the future.

Works cited:

"US Air Force Drops Lockheed Hypersonic Missile After Failed Tests." Defense News, 30 Mar. 2023, www.defensenews.com/air/2023/03/30/us-air-force-drops-lockheed-hypersonic-missile-after-failed-tests/.

"ARRW Program to End: What's Next?" Air and Space Forces, www.airandspaceforces.com/arrw-program-end-whats-next/.

Department of Defense Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation. "Annual Report FY2022 - Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW)." Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation, www.dote.osd.mil/Portals/97/pub/reports/FY2022/af/2022arrw.pdf?ver=6OwRMSdEPeUEP95hipZ0wA%3D%3D.

Woolf, Amy F. "Hypersonic Weapons: Background and Issues for Congress." Congressional Research Service, 1 Apr. 2023, sgp.fas.org/crs/weapons/R45811.pdf.

Congressional Budget Office. "Hypersonic Weapons: An Overview." Jan. 2023, www.cbo.gov/system/files/2023-01/58255-hypersonic.pdf.

"AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW)." Airforce Technology, www.airforce-technology.com/projects/agm-183a/.

Mizokami, Kyle. "The Pentagon's 'Super Duper' Missile Will Endanger Us All." Popular Mechanics, 18 Jun. 2020, www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a32883396/super-duper-missile/.