The Air Force is asking for $387 million in its current budget request to begin building the first of its version of a hypersonic missile system that has experienced several testing failures in the past.
Funds for the new missile, known as the AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon, were disclosed in a document listing weapons in the service’s $301.1 billion total funding request for fiscal 2026, which begins Oct. 1.
No details on the number of ARRWs to be built in the procurement and production.
The ARRW, pronounced “arrow,” will be a conventionally armed strike glider that will travel at speeds of between Mach 6.5 and Mach 8 — 6,138 mph — with maneuver capability. Its range will be about 1,000 miles.
After several test failures, the Air Force requested no funds for the ARRW program in fiscal 2025 and listed the program as “completed.” Officials said they considered canceling the program last year.
In addition to ARRW, the Air Force is also pursuing a second high-speed missile, the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM).
ARROW is a glider that can be launched from bombers.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin told the House Armed Services Committee last month that ARRW is now one of two hypersonic programs that would be reflected in the budget.
Gen. Allvin described ARRW as “more strategic and long-range” than the cruise missile HACM.
Funding for HACM, the second type, in the budget includes $802.8 million.
Building hypersonic weapons is a priority for the Pentagon, which in the past rejected developing the high-speed systems.
Deployment of hypersonic missiles by China and Russia, however, prompted the military to close a perceived hypersonic missile gap.
Unlike both China and Russia, which are arming their hypersonics with nuclear warheads, U.S. hypersonic weapons are not being designed for nuclear payloads and will be armed with conventional warheads.
As a result, U.S. hypersonic weapons will likely require greater accuracy and will be more technically challenging to develop than nuclear-armed Chinese and Russian systems.
The Navy is building a hypersonic missile called the common hypersonic glide body that will be deployed on guided-missile destroyers.
The Army’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon, known as Dark Eagle, is the most advanced system with an expected first operational deployment before the end of the year.
The Army glider will have a range of over 1,725 miles, the service says, and will be used to attack anti-access, area denial forces, attack enemy long-range weapons and strike significant or time-sensitive targets.
