For the first time, the U.S. has conducted a live-fire test of a hypersonic weapon in the Asia-Pacific, sending a clear message to China.
A B-52 bomber took off from Guam on Sunday morning before launching the missile, dubbed the AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW). Washington considers the U.S. territory key to rapidly responding to potential Chinese military offensives, such as an invasion of Taiwan.
The U.S. is trying to make up for lost time in its hypersonic arms race with China, which over the past decade has invested heavily in research and development to build out its hypersonic weapons capabilities.
"A B-52H Stratofortress conducted a test of the All-Up-Round AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon," an Air Force spokesperson told Newsweek on Wednesday. "This test launched a full prototype operational hypersonic missile and focused on the ARRW's end-to-end performance."
The bomber took off from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. The test took place at the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site in the Marshall Islands, the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the Air Force does not discuss specific objectives but added that the exercise was meant to "further a range of hypersonic programs" and that "the Air Force gained valuable insights into the capabilities of this new, cutting-edge technology."
The launch comes just weeks after the Air Force released photos showing the Lockheed Martin–built AGM-183 at the strategic island Air Force base as part of "hypersonic familiarization training" for B-52 crew members of the 23rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron and 49th Test and Evaluation Squadron.
Last year, the Air Force announced it would scuttle the AGM-183 program, which met with mixed success during previous rounds of testing.
Hypersonic missiles pose a deadly challenge to traditional missile defenses. Not only do they travel at speeds of Mach 5 or greater but they are tipped with hypersonic glide vehicles that glide below the horizon of ground-based radar and can outmaneuver incoming fire on their way to delivering their payload.
Beijing has for several years been expanding and finessing its arsenal of medium-range missiles like the Dongfeng-17, which put U.S. military bases in Japan, South Korea and the Philippines in range.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not immediately respond to Newsweek's emailed request for comment.
China is now making strides toward deploying intercontinental variants, as demonstrated by the pair of missiles it sent at least partway around the Earth on test flights in 2021, Jeffrey McCormick, a senior analyst with the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, warned lawmakers in a House Armed Services Committee hearing last week.
China's hypersonic missiles, coupled with the Chinese Rocket Force's already formidable ballistic missile arsenal, would give it a strategic advantage against U.S. forces responding to an emergency in the West Pacific, such as a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Micah McCartney is a reporter for Newsweek based in Taipei, Taiwan. He covers U.S.-China relations, East Asian and Southeast Asian ... Read more
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