The 3d Multi-Domain Task Force deploys the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon System to Northern Territory, Australia, July 9, 2025, to participate in Exercise Talisman Sabre 25. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Perla Alfaro)
The Army originally planned to field the hypersonic weapon in 2023, but technical issues and flight test delays forced the service to push back its deadline.
The Golden Fleet battleships are expected to be able to carry multiple weapon systems and other technologies that current destroyers do not have space for.
US President Donald Trump leaves after announcing the US Navy’s new Golden Fleet initiative, unveiling a new class of warships, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on December 22, 2025. President Donald Trump on December 22 announced a new class of heavily armed warships that will be named after himself — an honor usually reserved for US leaders who have left office. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images)
U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Marcella Philips, 2nd Maintenance Group weapons standardization loading standardization crew chief, and Tech Sgt. Darrell Stewart, 307th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron loading standardization crew member, secure the Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon to the B-52H Stratofortress ejector rack, at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, November 2, 2022. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman Nicole Ledbetter)
After nearly cancelling the program, Air Force is requesting $387.1 million in fiscal 2026 to start production of the Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW).
One of the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon Transporter Erector Launchers assigned to Bravo Battery, 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery, Long Range Fires Battalion, 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, participates in exercise Bamboo Eagle 24-3 on Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Aug. 5, 2024. (U.S. Army photo by 1st Lt. David Kim)
“This test builds on several flight tests in which the Common Hypersonic Glide Body achieved hypersonic speed at target distances and demonstrates that we can put this…
A B-52H Stratofortress assigned to the 419th Flight Test Squadron is undergoes pre-flight procedures at Edwards Air Force Base, California, Aug. 8, 2020. The aircraft conducted a captive-carry flight test of the AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon Instrumented Measurement Vehicle 2 at the Point Mugu Sea Range off the Southern California coast. (Air Force photo by Giancarlo Casem)
Lt. Gen. Heath Collins noted that with other missile programs “you may launch dozens of dozens of weapons. But on the hypersonic side, we just have not…