US Air Force likely to end AGM-183A ARRW programme after completing R&D phase

An artist’s rendering of a B-52 carrying Lockheed Martin’s AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon. (Lockheed Martin)

The US Air Force (USAF) will likely end its efforts to operationalise the Lockheed Martin AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) following a 13 March test failure. Although the test failure marks the first of the all-up round, three component flight test failures in 2021 led to speculation about the programme’s future.

The USAF said on 24 March that the test launch “met several objectives,” but provided no further information. The absence of elaboration is notable and likely denotes that the missile was lost prematurely. Since the test was meant to demonstrate ARRW’s “end-to-end performance”, according to the USAF, not reaching its target would be considered a test failure.