The U.S. Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a $694 million contract to produce the AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW). The award moves the hypersonic missile from testing and prototyping into production, giving the U.S. military a new high-speed strike capability.
ARRW is a boost-glide system designed to travel at more than five times the speed of sound. It is intended to penetrate advanced defenses and strike high-value, time-sensitive targets.
The production decision follows a period when the program nearly faced cancellation after test failures, before it was revived. Lockheed Martin is expanding its production facility in Troy, Alabama, to support missile manufacturing.