Hypersonic missiles are designed to travel at speeds in excess of Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound or about 3,850 mph) in the upper atmosphere. The US military tested a Lockheed Martin hypersonic missile, called an Air Rapid Reaction Weapon (ARRW) booster, off the coast of California this week, sources say. It comes just months after Russia claimed to have fired its latest hypersonic missile into Ukraine for the first time. The ARRW is carried high under the wing of an airplane before being launched towards its target. In previous US tests, the weapon did not detach from the aircraft. American efforts to develop hypersonic weapons have been hampered by failed tests and growing questions about cost. There are also growing concerns that the US is falling behind Russia and China in a superpower arms race. In a separate and also successful test of ultrasonic weapons, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched its Operational Fires program, according to two people familiar with the matter. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 3:36 March 2022: Russia uses hypersonic missile Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 1:24 Russia has “unprecedented” hypersonic missiles Operational Fires is a ground-launched system that will “quickly and accurately engage critical, time-sensitive targets while penetrating modern enemy air defenses.” One of Lockheed Martin’s ideas for the DARPA weapon is to use a launcher exiting the High Mobility Artillery Missile System (HIMARS), like those being sent to Ukraine, to fire the weapon. These successful tests come after a failed test flight on June 29 of a different type of hypersonic weapon, the Common Hypersonic Glide Body, at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii.
