The United States Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said on Tuesday that the latest hypersonic test “was not a success,” although it met some of the objectives.
"The one that we just had was not a success. We did not get the data that we needed from that test," Kendall said when asked about last ARRW test.
Last Friday, the U.S. Air Force informed it had conducted a test earlier in the month of a hypersonic AGM-183-A Air launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) built by Lockheed Martin, noting it met several of the objectives, without further elaborating on the issue.
Poster Comment:
This is an air launched air to ground missiles that would like to be Mach 6.5. India copies old Russian tech under license. They sell an air launched version of the Brahmos which is Mach 3 sea launched and Mach 5 air launched. It has a payload of 661 pounds. Russia has a Mach 9 cruise missile and plans to upgrade the Brahmos to Mach 7 or 8 in two years which would make the air launched version 9 or 10. Currently, the US Navy's cruise missile is subsonic. Russia just gave Iran the Kinzhal missile. It is air launched. It is Mach 12 and digs a 98 foot deep hole where its target used to be.