The United States has successfully tested two Lockheed Martin Corp hypersonic missiles, a major milestone in light of recent breakthroughs in testing by geopolitical adversaries Russia and China.
China said in 2021 that it had successfully tested a hypersonic weapon that orbited the Earth before striking its target while Russia just became the first country to utilize hypersonic weapons in combat when it launched its Iskander and Kinzhal missiles at Ukraine.
US Carries Out 2 Successful Missile Tests After Series of Failures
The United States has seen a series of setbacks in its hypersonic missile program, raising worries that the country is falling behind Russia and China. Lockheed Martin's air-launched missiles failed three consecutive tests in March.
According to Reuters, the Pentagon confirmed on Wednesday that the US Air Force successfully tested its Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) rocket on Tuesday off the coast of California. Before launch, the rocket was carried beneath the wing of a B-52H bomber. Separate hypersonic missile tests employing Operational Fires (OpFires) were also completed successfully in May and on Tuesday.
OpFires is a ground-launched system managed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) that will rapidly and precisely strike important, time-sensitive targets while penetrating current opponent air defenses. According to DARPA, this was the ground-based system's first flying test, as per Independent.
The successful tests demonstrate progress in the various US hypersonic weapons development projects, which have been plagued by failed tests, rising cost worries, and growing concerns that the US is lagging in what has become a superpower arms race.
Latest Botched US Military Missile Test
It follows a failed test flight of a different sort of hypersonic missile, the Common Hypersonic Glide Body, on June 29 at Hawaii's Pacific Missile Range Facility. The Defense Department declared at the time that an 'anomaly' prevented the whole test from being completed, but that it was not a total failure.
Defense companies seek to profit from the move to hypersonic weapons by creating novel detection and defeat systems in addition to constructing them. Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman Corp, and Raytheon Technologies Corp have all pushed their hypersonic weapons projects to investors as the world's attention has switched to the new arms race for an emerging kind of weapon, according to Daily Mail.
After politicians became worried that the US was slipping behind Chinese and Russian projects, the Pentagon intensified its attention on hypersonic weapon development. China successfully tested a hypersonic missile that orbited the Earth before striking its target last year. Russia just became the first nation to utilize hypersonic weapons in combat, launching its Iskander and Kinzhal missiles against Ukraine.
However, the US endeavor to catch up to Russia and China has not been without complications. In addition to the ARRW program's testing setbacks, another hypersonic weapons system encountered issues. According to the Pentagon, a test of the Common Hypersonic Glide Body failed in late June when an "anomaly" occurred during the first full system test. The glitch stopped the Defense Department from finishing the whole test, although the Pentagon stated that it was not a total failure.
The earlier test of the Common Hypersonic Glide Body, a Navy-Army collaboration, also terminated abruptly when the booster rocket failed. The Pentagon could not conduct a system test without the booster rocket. The Pentagon successfully tested the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) in March, but kept the test covert for two weeks to avoid raising tensions with Russia just before President Joe Biden's trip to Europe, CNN reported.
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