U.S. Air Force revives AGM-183A ARRW hypersonic missile with $694 million production contract.

The U.S. Department of the Air Force revealed it awarded Lockheed Martin a $694 million contract on September 29, 2026, to produce and field the AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW). Executed through the Enterprise-Wide Agile Acquisition Contract following Middle-Tier Acquisition decision memorandums, the award marks a complete strategic reversal of the service’s March 2023 decision to halt procurement of the hypersonic boost-glide missile. The contract moves the weapon into serial production for deployment on B-52H Stratofortress bombers, alongside carriage testing on the B-1B Lancer, backed by an FY2027 budget request containing $452 million for procurement and $296 million for ARRW Increment 2 development.

The AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) is a U.S. air-launched conventional hypersonic missile developed by Lockheed Martin that uses a solid-fuel rocket booster to accelerate an unpowered maneuvering glide vehicle beyond Mach 5. (Picture source: US DoD)

On October 26, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Air Force (DAF) revealed it awarded Lockheed Martin a $694 million contract on September 29, 2026, to produce and field the AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), reversing its March 2023 decision to discontinue its procurement of the hypersonic missile after repeated test failures. The contract was placed through the Department of War's Enterprise-Wide Agile Acquisition Contract, following two decision memorandums signed on March 18, 2025, and March 5, 2026, which established a Middle-Tier Acquisition pathway. The FY2027 budget request also includes $345.7 million for related development, divided between $296 million for the ARRW Increment 2 and $49 million for a separate Air-Launched Ballistic Missile (ALBM).

The B-52H Stratofortress remains the only bomber to have completed a publicly confirmed ARRW launch, while footage released on April 29, 2026, revealed an external carriage test on a B-1B Lancer. The U.S. Air Force has not disclosed the missile quantities, production rates, delivery dates, and operational fielding schedules, preventing calculation of a recurring unit cost or planned inventory. The AGM-183A ARRW combines a solid-propellant rocket booster with an unpowered hypersonic glide vehicle derived from the U.S. Air Force and DARPA's Tactical Boost Glide program. After the booster is released from a strategic bomber, it accelerates the missile to hypersonic speed and high altitude before separating from a wedge-shaped glide vehicle that uses aerodynamic lift to maneuver toward its target.

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The ARRW has been associated with a peak speed of Mach 15, equivalent to 5.1 km/s at sea-level atmospheric conditions or 4.5 km/s at 30 km altitude under standard atmospheric conditions, but neither figure establishes sustained or terminal velocity. The estimated all-up-round mass of 5,000 lb (2,268 kg) places substantial requirements on bomber pylons, while its fragmenting terminal payload combines kinetic impact with fragment dispersion and penetration. At 4.5 km/s, a 1 kg object carries 10.125 megajoules of kinetic energy, although actual terminal effects depend on fragment mass, velocity, impact geometry, and target construction. Missile range, terminal speed, glide ratio, accuracy, or penetration performance remain undisclosed, preventing quantitative comparisons with conventional penetrators or other hypersonic weapons. 

The ARRW's initial test campaign began with B-52H captive-carry flights in 2019, including an August 8, 2020, Instrumented Measurement Vehicle 2 mission from Edwards Air Force Base to the Point Mugu Sea Range. The first booster test attempt in April 2021 ended before missile release when the launch sequence could not be completed, while the July 28, 2021, Booster Test Vehicle 1b separated successfully but failed to ignite its rocket motor, despite completing GPS acquisition, power transfer, umbilical disconnection, and control-fin operation. Three unsuccessful attempts in 2021 preceded three successful tests in 2022, including the first complete operational prototype flight in December. A March 13, 2023, all-up-round test failed, as confirmed by Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall on March 28, while a December 2022 range-sensor malfunction and March 2023 shroud-separation failure restricted terminal evaluation. The August 2023 flight subsequently achieved nominal conditions.

By 2024, the ARRW had demonstrated required release conditions, downrange and cross-range performance, and timing of terminal effects in permissive conditions, but insufficient test data remained for statistically confident accuracy estimates, fragment penetration assessment, and survivability evaluation against representative integrated defenses. The March 17, 2024, Guam demonstration provided a more representative assessment of the ARRW's employment from a forward B-52H bomber operating location than the earlier California flight tests. Preparations included February 27 familiarization training involving the 23rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron from Minot Air Force Base and the 49th Test and Evaluation Squadron from Barksdale Air Force Base, covering weapon handling, hypersonic flight, logistics, and mission planning. The B-52H subsequently launched a complete AGM-183A toward the Reagan Test Site near Kwajalein Atoll, with the flight including a land impact.

Naval monitoring vessels and Missile Defense Agency aircraft supported measurement of missile behavior, while two 2024 all-up-round tests examined separation, free flight, terminal maneuver, and impact effects. The campaign demonstrated specified launch and flight-performance requirements but, again, did not establish statistically reliable accuracy, fragment dispersion, or penetration results. Nevertheless, it provided operational bomber crews some experience with preparing and employing a hypersonic weapon outside the established Edwards Air Force Base test environment. The B-1B Lancer could become the ARRW's second launch aircraft through Boeing's Load Adaptable Modular (LAM) pylon and the Air Force's Hypersonic Integration Program. Footage released by Edwards Air Force Base on April 29, 2026, showed an AGM-183A mounted beneath the fuselage at a station previously used for JDAM testing and the Sniper targeting pod.

The B-1B has six external pylon positions, each intended to accommodate two 2,000 lb weapons or one store exceeding 5,000 lb. Six ARRW weapons would therefore represent at least 30,000 lb (13.6 metric tons) of external stores, although this remains an uncertified configuration. Boeing has also associated the external-carriage modernization effort with a potential 50% payload increase, but actual ARRW capacity depends on the B-1B's structural loads, aerodynamic clearance, center of gravity, and safe-release testing. The same Expanded Weapons Integration effort also covers the 5,000 lb GBU-72 penetrator, JDAM, AGM-158 JASSM, and AGM-158C LRASM, allowing the bomber to carry different combinations of conventional standoff weapons as its service life is extended toward at least 2037. To date, the ARRW procurement funding rose from $362.155 million in FY2026 to a requested $452.035 million in FY2027, an increase of $89.88 million (24.8%), following the Air Force's March 2023 decision against follow-on purchases.

Earlier allocations included $46.6 million for one FY2023 missile, $150.3 million in requested FY2024 development funding, and a September 26, 2024, Lockheed Martin award of $13.4 million that brought the reported program value to $1.3 billion. Planned procurement spending reaches $556.265 million in FY2028, $621.094 million in FY2029, $616.036 million in FY2030, and $596.636 million in FY2031, producing a $3.204221 billion FY2026-FY2031 procurement profile. Separately, the FY2027 development request includes $296 million for the ARRW Increment 2, with the development of a terminal seeker and data link to enable engagement of moving targets, and $49 million for initial ALBM design. Development projections of $548 million in FY2028, $620 million in FY2029, and $242 million in FY2030 bring FY2027-FY2030 planned spending to $1.7557 billion. Procurement also finances production-line restart, obsolete-component replacement, supplier qualification, and manufacturing capacity. 

The ARRW's production decision restores a boost-glide weapon alongside the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM), which uses rocket-assisted acceleration followed by sustained scramjet propulsion. The ARRW's estimated 5,000 lb mass favors B-52H and potentially B-1B carriage, whereas the lighter HACM is being developed for fighter and bomber integration, including the F-15E and F-15EX. Raytheon and Northrop Grumman lead the HACM development using technologies from DARPA's Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) and the U.S.-Australian Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment. Its original schedule envisaged 13 flight tests between October 2024 and March 2027, subsequently reduced to seven, with consideration of five complete end-to-end demonstrations.

The FY2027 request includes $404 million to begin HACM procurement, compared with $452 million for baseline ARRW acquisition, but the HACM remained in flight-test development as of October 2026. The distinction is operational as well as industrial: the ARRW's unpowered glide vehicle progressively loses energy after booster separation, while the HACM maintains thrust during powered cruise, requiring different propulsion manufacturing, thermal-management, aircraft integration, and maintenance arrangements. The operational relevance of the ARRW is most apparent when compared with Chinese and Russian integrated air defenses and long-range missile forces.

China's DF-17 combines a medium-range ballistic booster with a maneuvering glide vehicle and has an estimated range of 1,800 to 2,500 km, while the DF-27 is associated with a range of 5,000 to 8,000 km, with a potential anti-ship employment. Russia, for its part, operates the air-launched Kh-47M2 Kinzhal, naval 3M22 Zircon, and intercontinental Avangard glide vehicle, although Ukrainian interceptions of Kinzhals have also demonstrated that hypersonic weapons are not inherently immune to interception. In the Indo-Pacific, nevertheless, ARRW-equipped B-52H and potentially B-1B bombers could provide conventional standoff strikes against fixed Chinese command facilities, long-range radars, HQ-9-family air defense infrastructure, and missile-support installations.

Increment 2's planned terminal seeker and data link could extend the weapon to moving naval targets, but this requires accurate target updates and terminal discrimination not demonstrated by the baseline missile. Against Russia, ARRW could supplement conventional cruise missiles for strikes against fixed military infrastructure, subject to range limitations and escalation risks. However, a limited ARRW stockpile would not by itself provide the volume required for sustained operations against Chinese or Russian air defense networks.

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Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.