“A B-521H Stratofortress conducted a test of the All-Up-Round AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon. This test launched a full prototype operational hypersonic missile and focused on the ARRW's end-to-end performance. The test took place at the Reagan Test Site with the B-52 taking off from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam on March 17, 2024, local time,” the statement said on Tuesday.
While the statement did not disclose whether the test was successful, it noted that the test acquired valuable, unique data and was intended to further a range of hypersonic programs.
Meanwhile, Russia and China are the first countries to field strategic hypersonic weapons systems, with Moscow putting the Kinzhal (lit. "dagger") missile into operation in late 2017, and the People’s Liberation Army following suit by unveiling the DF-ZF hypersonic glide vehicle in 2019.
Russia got a head start on its hypersonics program thanks to Soviet-era research in the field starting in the early 2000s, after the Bush administration unilaterally scrapped of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty – a 1972 Soviet-US agreement which placed severe limitations on the creation of anti-ballistic missile defenses and intended to stop the arms race.