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U.S. Air Force successfully tests hypersonic missile that travels five times the speed of sound
Fox News ^ | 12/16/2022 | Pilar Arias

Posted on 12/16/2022 8:33:30 AM PST by SeekAndFind

412th Test Wing at Edwards AFB executed the ARRW test flight

The Air Force successfully fired an air-to-ground hypersonic missile that reached speeds more than five times the speed of sound in a test off the southern California coast, officials said Monday.

The test of the All-Up-Round AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon on Friday was the first launch of a full prototype operational missile, the Air Force said in a press release.

The missile was released from a B-52H Stratofortress and detonated in the terminal area, showing "all objectives were met," according to the release.

"The ARRW team successfully designed and tested an air-launched hypersonic missile in five years," said Brig. Gen. Jason Bartolomei, Armament Directorate Program executive officer. "I am immensely proud of the tenacity and dedication this team has shown to provide a vital capability to our warfighter."

The 412th Test Wing at Edwards AFB, California, executed the ARRW test flight, officials said.

ARRW is designed to "enable the U.S. to hold fixed, high-value, time-sensitive targets at risk in contested environments," according to the release.

In October, the Army and Navy collected data on their hypersonic missile programs during tests at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

The Army is aiming to have offensive hypersonic strike capability ready by next year. The Missile Defense Agency is also taking part in testing for the development of systems to combat adversaries' hypersonic weapons.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: airforce; hypersonic; missile
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To: SeekAndFind

We started making these way back late 40’s and in the 50’s.

Lockheed AQM-60 Kingfisher
Maximum speed: Mach 4.3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_AQM-60_Kingfisher

Typical bureaucrats!!

Excerpt: The Kingfisher was capable of evading the vast majority of weapons systems it was used to test, despite the systems being designed to destroy hypersonic missiles in flight. This created much embarrassment at the USAF and considerable political fallout. This led to the discontinuation of production in 1959 and the cancellation of the project in the mid-1960s.[3]


21 posted on 12/16/2022 9:33:37 AM PST by minnesota_bound (Need more money to buy everything now)
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To: SeekAndFind

“all objectives were met,”

Meaning that the missile had all the right pronouns.


22 posted on 12/16/2022 9:34:34 AM PST by farmguy
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To: farmguy
Meaning that the missile had all the right pronouns.

As did the engineers who designed it.

23 posted on 12/16/2022 9:55:00 AM PST by Yo-Yo (Is the /Sarc tag really necessary? Pray for President Biden: Psalm 109:8)
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To: GOPJ
Lots of comments about how this is wasteful or stupid on this thread. The threat is real. I will point you to this:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/advanced-maneuver-in-china-hypersonic-missile-test-shows-new-military-capability-11637545843

This is one of many articles over the past couple of years that show the situation. We've been in an arms race with china for missiles that can destroy the other sides ability to fight before they can react and which are way way faster than any of our defensive systems can throw at them. And we've been losing it badly.

24 posted on 12/16/2022 9:55:24 AM PST by pepsi_junkie ("We want no Gestapo or Secret Police. F. B. I. is tending in that direction." - Harry S Truman)
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To: Yo-Yo
As did the engineers who designed it.

The missile worked, so the engineers probably did NOT have "all the right pronouns".

25 posted on 12/16/2022 9:57:24 AM PST by NorthMountain (... the right of the peopIe to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: minnesota_bound
I was once at an interesting talk given by aviation pioneer Burt Rutan. I never heard of him before but a bunch of Air Force guys at the talk were on the edge of their seats in awe so I guess he's well respected in their circles. The gist of his talk was that they USA give-up on hypersonic tech for manned flights around 1960 in part because the commercial airlines were making enough money without the investment and in part because the military didnt really need the tech, they could already defeat the enemy defenses without it. He had some interesting curves showing the evolution of aircraft speed and it was a steep upward curve until around 1960 and it's been flat ever since. Flat for 70 years and it's not a physics limitation, it's a 'will to do it' limitation.

I wonder if all this missile tech will finally spur the aviation industry to get it done too.

26 posted on 12/16/2022 10:00:44 AM PST by pepsi_junkie ("We want no Gestapo or Secret Police. F. B. I. is tending in that direction." - Harry S Truman)
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To: minnesota_bound

” This created much embarrassment at the USAF and considerable political fallout. “

Reminds me of the early 80’s when working for Northrop and the navy admitting they could not stop the Soviet SS-N-22 Sunburn missile. No reliable defense existed against a supersonic sea skimmer.

We were working on a target drone to simulate the Sunburn and I did a lot of reading on the navy anti missile tech of the time.


27 posted on 12/17/2022 9:36:27 PM PST by doorgunner69 (Let's go Brandon)
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