No doubt that the word “hypersonic” has become a buzzword in the world of the military.
After a public presentation of Russian programs on March 1, 2018, the US defense industry and
military doubled down on obtaining funding for the development of their own hypersonic weapons,
resulting in a number of parallel programs one can easily become.
Hello and welcome to another episode of The Military TV. Today we're taking a look at the
AGM-183A which is Trump's Super-Duper Missile. In August 2018, the U.S. Air Force awarded a
$480 million contract to Lockheed Martin for the development of an air-launched hypersonic weapon.
Later on, the amount of the missile development contract was increased to almost $1 billion.
It is probably based on the company’s earlier developments conducted together with DARPA
(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). This explains the extremely tight project deadline:
it is planned to reach the initial combat deployment stage as soon as in 2022.
This hypersonic strike weapon developed by the US Air Force (USAF) to counter the latest generation
weapons developed by both China and Russia. To attain hypersonic speeds, the missile consists of
a solid-fuel rocket booster, fitted with pop-out tail fins, and an unpowered boost-glide vehicle.
After being propelled to a specific speed and altitude atop the rocket booster,
the wedge-shaped boost-glide vehicle continues to its target at hypersonic speed
and then the warhead will descend at speeds of up to Mach 20 to strike a ground target.
It’s also worth noting that General Gebara might have been talking about the average
speed of ARRW’s boost-glide vehicle warhead. In the past, DARPA had said that the boost-glide
vehicle being developed for its Tactical Boost Glide (TBG) program could potentially hit a
peak speed of Mach 20. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor on both of these
programs and ARRW’s boost-glide vehicle is understood to be derived from the TBG one.
Talking about the missile testing, the U.S. Air Force successfully conducted the first flight test
of its AGM-183A, on a B-52 Stratofortress aircraft on 12 June 2019 at Edwards Air Force Base,
California, and a last such test occurred in August 2020. A sensor-only version of the ARRW
prototype was carried externally by a B-52 during the test to gather environmental and aircraft
handling data. According to Popular Mechanics, the U.S. Air Force was, as of April 2020,
considering using the remaining fleet of B-1B bombers as AGM-183A firing platforms,
with each aircraft carrying up to 31 of the weapons mounted internally and on external pylons
The missile might be deployed by bombers such as B-1, B-2 and B-52 as well as the planned B-21.
The test gathered data on drag and vibration impacts on the weapon itself and on the external
carriage equipment of the aircraft. The prototype did not have explosives and it was not released
from the B-52 during the flight test. This type of data collection is required for all
Air Force weapon systems undergoing development. Regardless of which platform carries the ARRW,
it’s clear that it will provide the Air Force with a significantly enhanced short or no-notice strike
capability, especially against time-critical or otherwise high-value and highly defended targets
providing the next phase of test work proves successful. Combined with its speed and level
atmospheric flight profile, the boost-glide vehicle will be able to maneuver in flight,
making it even tougher for hostile air defenses to defeat.
Now, let’s discuss about its specifications and launch platform,
The AGM-183A has a maximum speed of 15,345 miles per hour and it is an
unmanned glide-body hypersonic missile that is designed to be deployed from an aircraft
before being boosted above Mach 5 by a rocket and then gliding to its target.
It is a fairly light missile (it has a starting weight of about 3 to 3.5 tons). We also know that
ARRW has a range of at least 1,000 miles, It looks like a missile with conventional proportions,
but the “body” is, in fact, a solid booster that is jettisoned in flight, and the flat glider that
kills the target is hidden under the nose cone which will allow its launch platform to remain
outside the reach of hostile defenses, at least in most cases. It’s an area in which the United
States is now concentrating its efforts in a bid to match similar developments in both China and
Russia. Given their tremendous speed and ability to maneuver in the atmosphere, hypersonic missiles
are seen as particularly hard to defend against using conventional missile defense systems, which
are designed to counter and intercept traditional ballistic missile threats, the trajectory
of which are much more predictable than their hypersonic counterparts. The strategic bombers
B-52H Stratofortress will probably be used as the carrier for the AGM-183A missiles at the initial
stage, however, other aircraft are planned to be used for this purpose in the future, including
at least the B-21 Raider bombers and even the F-15E/EX Strike Eagle fighters if the weight
and dimensions can be kept moderate, one missile could be suspended under the fighter fuselage.
The Air Force plans to test ARRW on both the B-52 and the B-1,
and longstanding plans call for an initial operational capability before the end of 2022.
Both bombers will carry the missile externally; the B-1 will carry ARRW on six external hardpoints
that have not been used for munitions since the START treaty was signed and the B-1 was withdrawn
from the nuclear role. Roper has previously said the ARRW could be employed by the F-15, as well.
We conclude that the missile previously flew in 2020 and Lockheed says that the one used in the
recent test is the first tactical prototype to be assembled, which indicates that the program is
moving beyond purely research work and towards an actual functioning weapons system. The purpose of
the captive-carry flight was to test new tactical hardware and the vehicle was fully instrumented
to gather thermal, mechanical, and digital data. Ground and flight testing is scheduled to continue
for another two years. No announcement was made as to exactly when free-flight tests will begin
or when the AGM-183A or its operational successor will enter into service.
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