Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: The United States Air Force announced on Monday that it successfully tested a hypersonic missile AGM-183 Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon.
The US Air Force said that the AGM-183A ARRW – a cutting-edge strategic weapon also being developed by Russia and China – was launched from a B-52H bomber on Friday off California’s coast and reached speeds 5 times greater than the speed of sound.
The missile completed its flight path and detonated in the terminal area, said the Air Force. The test was the first launch of a full prototype operational missile, it added.
The US has multiple weapons plans, and the Pentagon’s high-tech research body DARPA tested a different missile this year.
Hypersonic missiles: a threat to international military balance
Hypersonic missiles are capable of delivering nuclear weapons precisely at the target and pose a potential threat to the international military balance.
China conducted a missile test the previous year, and Russia used hypersonic missiles and small weapons during the Ukraine war. North Korea also claims to have conducted test flights.
