ARRW Hypersonic Missile Enters Production With $694M Award
The Air Force has put its first hypersonic missile, the AGM-183A ARRW, into production with a $694 million Lockheed Martin contract after years of setbacks.
The U.S. Air Force has bought its first hypersonic missile for production. The service said on 26 October that it awarded Lockheed Martin a $694 million contract on 29 September to produce and field the AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon, or ARRW (pronounced “arrow”). The Air Force announcement calls the award the formal move of the boost-glide missile from prototyping and flight testing into production. The service did not say how many missiles it ordered or when they will be delivered, citing operational security.
“This is a turning point in our advanced weapons roadmap,” Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said in the statement. “By moving ARRW from test to production, we’re providing our combatant commanders with a credible, high-speed strike weapon capable of penetrating the most advanced anti-access and area-denial systems.”
How ARRW works
ARRW is a boost-glide weapon. A solid-fuel rocket booster carries it to more than five times the speed of sound, then separates and releases a glide vehicle that maneuvers toward its target, according to the Air Force. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) says the design draws on DARPA’s Tactical Boost Glide technology and was meant to reach average speeds between Mach 6.5 and Mach 8 over roughly 1,000 miles. Stars and Stripes reports the Air Force also gives a 1,000-mile range.
The missile is too large for most fighters, Air & Space Forces Magazine reported, and will first be fielded on the B-52H Stratofortress. Officials told Stars and Stripes that testing will also involve the B-1B Lancer. Air Force leaders have said the target set is time-sensitive, heavily defended and high-value sites struck from standoff range, meaning the launching aircraft stays outside the reach of enemy air defenses.
Key specs and figures
| Item | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Air-launched hypersonic boost-glide missile | U.S. Air Force |
| Speed | Above Mach 5; designed for Mach 6.5 to 8 average | Air Force; CRS |
| Range | About 1,000 miles | CRS; Stars and Stripes |
| Launch aircraft | B-52H first; B-1B in testing | Air & Space Forces; Stripes |
| B-52 load | Up to four missiles, per a senior Air Force official | CRS |
| Production contract | $694 million, signed 29 Sept 2026 | U.S. Air Force |
| FY2027 request | $452 million for production | Air & Space Forces |
| FY2028 to FY2031 plan | $556 million to $621 million a year | Air & Space Forces |
| Quantities | Not released (controlled unclassified) | Air Force; Air & Space Forces |
A program that was nearly cancelled
ARRW’s road to production was not smooth. Lockheed received a design contract worth up to $480 million in 2018 and a $988.8 million modification for critical design review in 2019, Air & Space Forces reported. The first launch attempt, in April 2021, failed, and two more failures followed. CRS records three successful flights in 2022, including the first full operational prototype test in December, then a mixed record with at least one failure in 2023 and a final test in March 2024 whose results the Air Force declined to discuss.
Money dried up along the way. Congress cut funds for 12 missiles from the fiscal 2022 plan, and the Air Force zeroed out 2023 funding. In March 2023, then-acquisition chief Andrew Hunter said the program would end without purchases, and then-Secretary Frank Kendall said the service was “more committed” to the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) than to ARRW, according to CRS. The course reversed in 2025, when then-Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin told Congress the Air Force would buy ARRW. Sources differ slightly on the 2026 amount: CRS lists a $387.1 million procurement request, while Air & Space Forces reports that $362 million was allotted.
The 2027 request of $452 million is not yet law. The Pentagon is operating under a continuing resolution at 2026 levels, so the larger buys in the five-year plan depend on what Congress passes.
Why it matters
Analysis, based on the sources cited in this article:
The award puts the Air Force on a path to a fielded hypersonic strike weapon, an area where CRS says China and Russia have likely already fielded operational glide vehicles. CRS notes that U.S. intelligence assesses China’s DF-17, a medium-range missile built to carry a hypersonic glide vehicle, as fielded with a range of about 1,000 to 1,500 miles. CRS also notes that most U.S. hypersonic weapons are conventionally armed, which demands greater accuracy than the nuclear-armed Russian and Chinese designs and makes them more technically challenging to develop. The Pentagon’s hypersonic research request fell to $3.9 billion in fiscal 2026 from $6.9 billion a year earlier, CRS reports, so a production buy marks a shift from experiments toward stockpiles.
The Air Force is not betting on one weapon. On 26 October, the startup Castelion said it had a contract change to begin integrating its lower-cost Blackbeard hypersonic missile on the F-16, The Aviationist reported, adding to Navy work aimed at early operational capability on the Super Hornet in 2027. Blackbeard is bought under the Navy’s MACE program, which the outlet describes as aimed at large numbers of comparatively low-cost long-range weapons, while ARRW is a larger, bomber-carried missile whose unit cost the Air Force has not published. Whether the two approaches complement or compete with each other is a budget question Congress has not yet settled.
ARRW also fits the bomber force the Air Force is rebuilding around the B-21 Raider, and it joins the Army’s Precision Strike Missile in a broader push for long-range fires against the Pacific’s defended targets. For background on how hypersonics compare with drones, AI and lasers, see our military technology explainer.
What to watch: whether the Air Force releases quantities or a first-delivery date, the final 2027 defense budget, any B-1B test results, and progress on HACM, the Air Force’s separate hypersonic cruise missile.
Warfare explained: Ballistic missile vs cruise missile: key differences
Sources
- U.S. Air Force, DAF awards ARRW production contract, establishes new hypersonic capabilities, 26 October 2026.
- Air & Space Forces Magazine, Air Force Launches ARRW, Its First Hypersonic Weapon, into Production, 26 October 2026.
- Stars and Stripes, Air Force hypersonic missile project moves into production, 26 October 2026.
- Congressional Research Service, Hypersonic Weapons: Background and Issues for Congress, R45811, updated 27 August 2025.
- The Aviationist, Castelion to Begin Blackbeard Hypersonic Missile Integration on USAF F-16s, 26 October 2026.
