The ARRW contract was awarded on September 29, but only announced today<\/a>. It is not immediately clear how many missiles are to be built under this deal or when the Air Force expects to start taking delivery of them. The Air Force has previously disclosed plans to integrate the missiles onto its B-52<\/a> and B-1 bombers<\/a>. Other aircraft with sufficiently large payload capacities and physical space to carry outsized stores could potentially carry AGM-183As, or variants thereof, in the future.<\/p>\n \u201cThe contract was executed under the Department of War\u2019s Enterprise-Wide Agile Acquisition Contract to modernize America\u2019s Arsenal of Freedom,\u201d according to an Air Force press release<\/a>. \u201cThis milestone marks the formal transition of the boost-glide hypersonic missile program from prototyping and flight testing into production, solidifying the Air Force\u2019s commitment to fielding standoff, high-speed strike options.\u201d<\/p>\n As noted here, the AGM-183A is a so-called boost-glide vehicle-type hypersonic weapon, which uses a rocket booster to bring it first to an optimal speed and altitude. The nose cone on ARRW then breaks away, and a wedge-shaped unpowered boost-glide vehicle concealed within is released.<\/p>\n The vehicle then glides to its target along a relatively shallow flight path within the Earth\u2019s atmosphere at hypersonic speed, defined as anything above Mach 5. It is capable of maneuvering along the way, sometimes erratically. The mix of speed, flight trajectory, and maneuverability creates significant challenges for opponents in terms of spotting and tracking the glide vehicle, let alone attempting to intercept it. As a result, hypersonic weapons of this type offer particular benefits for piercing enemy air defenses to very rapidly strike time-sensitive and otherwise high-value targets.<\/p>\n The ARRW production contract \u201cis a turning point in our advanced weapons roadmap,\u201d Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink said in a statement accompanying today\u2019s release. \u201cBy moving ARRW from test to production, we\u2019re providing our combatant commanders with a credible, high-speed strike weapon capable of penetrating the most advanced anti-access and area-denial systems.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFielding ARRW enhances our ability to hold targets at risk anywhere around the world,\u201d Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ken Wilsbach said in his own statement. \u201cThis hypersonic weapon provides the Joint Force a flexible and rapid response option for highly contested environments.\u201d<\/p>\n As mentioned, the Air Force had moved to cancel ARRW in 2023, following a number of failed flight tests<\/a>. The explicit intent at the time was to shift resources to the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile<\/a> (HACM) effort. HACM is an air-breathing hypersonic cruise missile<\/a> that functions in a completely different way from ARRW. HACM is still in development, and the program has now moved into flight testing, as TWZ<\/em> was first to report<\/a> earlier this month.<\/p>\n There had already been steady signs in recent years that ARRW\u2019s fortunes were changing<\/a> and that it had not actually been axed<\/a>, despite the Air Force\u2019s stated plans to do so. The Air Force\u2019s 2026 Fiscal Year budget request last year confirmed that the service had fully rebooted the program and was seeking new funding to procure actual missiles.<\/p>\n The service\u2019s 2027 Fiscal Year budget request, released earlier this year, revealed further plans<\/a> \u201cto begin [ARRW] INC 2 [Increment 2] technology efforts such as but not limited to integrating pre-planned product improvements, design, trade studies, hardware upgrades, facilitization, affordability initiatives, and testing.\u201d<\/p>\n A request for $296 million would support \u201cthe design, test, and evaluation of Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) Increment 2 with terminal seeker and data link capability and other cost reduction production initiatives into ARRW,\u201d those same documents added.<\/p>\n In general, the U.S. Air Force has historically framed hypersonic weapons, including ARRW and HACM, as being especially critical for success in future conflicts, especially high-end fights, such as one in the Pacific against China. This was underscored by the launch of an AGM-183A with a live warhead from a B-52 flying from Andersen Air Force Base<\/a> on Guam in 2024. The future anti-ship variant could be even more relevant in a Pacific context.<\/p>\n As TWZ <\/em>has written previously<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026the Guam test sent clear signals to China. The Air Force has made no secret of how important it views<\/a> the development and fielding of hypersonic weapons as part of larger preparations for a potential future high-end fight against the Chinese People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA) in the Pacific. This is further underscored by the fact that the mention of the \u2018terminal seeker and data link capability\u2019 for Increment 2 of ARRW is actually contained in the Pacific Deterrence Initiative<\/a> (PDI) section of the Pentagon\u2019s Fiscal Year 2027 budget request.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIn the context of a major conflict in the Pacific, there would also be a very high demand for prompt, long-range anti-ship capability. The ability to conduct those strikes even in the face of dense anti-air defenses would be even more attractive for engaging very high-value vessels, such as China\u2019s growing fleets of aircraft carriers<\/a> or big deck amphibious assault ships<\/a>. The PLA Navy\u2019s (PLAN) combat fleets, overall, continue to grow in scale and scope at a prodigious rate, as well. This, in turn, has put additional emphasis on the development and fielding of new and improved anti-ship capabilities that can be air-launched<\/a>, as well as employed from the maritime<\/a> and ground domains<\/a>, across the U.S. military in recent years. Increment 2 ARRWs could also offer another means to strike mobile, high-value targets on land, such as ballistic missile transporter-erector-launchers<\/a>.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor its part, the PLA has been actively developing<\/a> and fielding various types of hypersonic weapons<\/a>, including boost-glide vehicle designs<\/a>. Its ever-growing arsenal of traditional ballistic missiles<\/a> now includes several air-launched types, including ones with nuclear<\/a> and conventional warheads<\/a>. The latter are widely believed to be capable of being employed against enemy ships, as well as targets on land.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n If nothing else, after moving to cancel the ARRW three years ago, the Air Force has now fully reversed course and has placed its first order for production examples of this hypersonic missile.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/b-1-arrw-flight-test.jpg\")
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