Despite Billions in Research and Development, US Lags in Deploying Hypersonic Missiles

The U.S. Department of Defense launches a sounding rocket from NASA's launch range at Wallops Flight Facility carrying hypersonic weapon experiments that will inform the development of the hypersonic class of weapons, on Wallops Island, Va., on Oct. 26, 2022. Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

Commentary

On March 28, the Air Force admitted that the March 13 test of Lockheed Martin’s AGM-183 air-launched rapid response weapon (ARRW) was a failure. This failure comes after four years and billions of dollars of taxpayer money sent to Lockheed Martin to develop hypersonic weapons.