Air Force’s Test Launch of Hypersonic Missile from B-52 Fails Written 7 April 2021
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B-52 out of Edwards Air Force Base carries a prototype AGM-183A for its first captive carry flight. | Credit: U.S. Air Force, Christopher Okula; Wikipedia; Public Domain
The Hill reports that the US Air Force’s “first flight test of the rocket booster for its prototype hypersonic missile failed Monday when the test weapon did not launch, the service said Tuesday.” During the “test flight over the Point Mugu Sea Range off the Southern California coast, a B-52H Stratofortress was supposed to launch the AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon’s (ARRW) booster vehicle, but ‘the test missile was not able to complete its launch sequence,’ the Air Force said in a news release.” The ARRW “was still ‘safely’ on the aircraft when it returned to Edwards Air Force Base, the release added. That means Air Force engineers and testers will be able to study the defect and attempt to test the missile again, the release said.”
Full Story (The Hill)