America's HYPERSONIC ARRW missile might come back from the dead?

In March 2023, Air Force acquisition executive Andrew Hunter told the House Armed Services Committee in no uncertain terms that the program for America’s first hypersonic missile – the AGM-183 ARRW – was effectively dead in the water following a series of high-profile testing failures. However, a January 2024 report published by the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Testing and Evaluation (DOT&E) suggests the rumors of ARRW’s death may have been exaggerated.

With two tests completed since the Air Force declared it had no intention of purchasing the weapon, and a third scheduled for this year, it appears as though ARRW may yet have a path to service after all.

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Citations:

[JayJayGaming]

Generally speaking, when the DoD "cancels" something, all the research, materials, personnel, etc go right to another program with a new name that does basically the same thing, but with new requirements/targets, a new timetable to reach it, and some reshuffling behind the scenes.

No programs ever really "die", they just become more or less relevant as they move through revisions. A great example would be the railgun, which they never really stopped looking into.

[MrSJPowell]

So would the current status of the ARRW be something of a... Broken ARRW?

[RHDI]

The idea of having B-52s flying around the clock with ARRWs as a deterrent, like the cold war days of the Buffs flying with conventional nukes, brings a smile to my face.

[texasranger]

The US Army just chose General Dynamics and Rheinmetall as finalists for the 4000 Bradley replacement IFVs.
Could you do a Firepower series video about this program, the two finalists and the other three that dropped out. Or more generally the current state of IFVs (Bradley, CV90, Puma, Lynx) and their most likely future. Maybe even including anti air IFVs like some CV90 variants and SkyRanger.

[SmoochieRoo]

Yeah it felt odd to think they'd just shelve it, they just need better hypersonic testing infrastructure and not to rush things at all. But I'm glad they did it that way as it highlights certain needs that should be addressed.

[jondrew]

And I quote "I'm not quite dead yet"

[dennyliegerot]

Seeing the F-8 Crusader destroyed in the bunker gets me every time...my father, an F-8 pilot sent that video to me a few years before he passed...as an aviation enthusist it's just something you hate to see.

[Right-Handed_Neutrino]

There's a comment somewhere in your video announcing the cancelation of ARRW, by me, stating that I didn't think it was really canceled. Just as Alex has said in previous videos, sometimes canceling a project just means they're ready for the next phase and sometimes, announced failures for a test is just to throw off the public, but most importantly, our adversaries and it looks like it worked. But I knew better and I was right! This seemed like their most promising hypersonic program.

[texasranger]

A video about the X65 and active flow control would be cool.

[nicholasmaude]

I wonder if they'll do a two-stage ARRW-ER?

[SnottyW]

Dude, you are so spot on, I appreciate your candor.

[freguy]

Same story with the railgun, it goes away, comes back, goes away…one thing that does stay, is the research findings and its reasons of failure.

[MrSJPowell]

You've long repeatedly stated that hypersonic glide vehicles could be used to maneuver around air defense assets. However the faster an object is going the less maneuverability it can have. Turning too quickly could theoretically rip the missile apart. You can make the object able to sustain higher Gs by making it more sturdy, but that increases weight and makes the tyranny of the rocket equation even worse. Has there been a study in the practical limits of maneuverability of HGVs? I understand that with the SR-71 at full speed, maneuverability was along the lines of "Turn left at that mountain". Would HGVs be in a similar boat?

Further, Habitual Linecrosser has pointed out that maneuvering around air defense is a lot more difficult when the air defense system is co-located with the expected target, which is the US's standard policy. Intercepting hypersonic munitions that aren't targeting you is a lot harder to be sure, but why are we so confident that hypersonic munitions would be likely to penetrate say, an aircraft carrier's strike group's AEGIS?

[raymondtorres-gyuj]

Alex is by far the best at what he does, his knowledge of history & tech of war is should have millions of subcriber's by now....Love this man & the info he being's to us all is great.... Blessings to you all from Puerto Rico with lot's of love 🙏👍❤️

[ChrisDavis]

We could just say it was an amazing success, and is in our arsenal right now and it flies at Mach 100 and maneuvers through space and time. Like our adversaries do.

[bowencreer]

Ya it seemed a little hasty to me to cancel it outright.

[Reinwolf]

The ARRW is coming back, you say?





Sounds like more of boomerang to me.

[everypitchcounts]

Can you cover the Coyote 2c interceptor, OFFSET, Perdix micro drone swarm, the old project aquiline, Talon-A reusable hypersonic vehicle.

[wisenber]

So you're saying there's a chance!

[FELiPES]

never know what kind of info we discovered or stole from whomever that put the project back on track