The House Appropriations defense subcommittee is recommending cutting spending to the procurement of the U.S. Air Force’s long-range, lethal hypersonic weapon, according to Inside Defense.
All told, appropriators propose to cut the hypersonic boost-glide weapon procurement budget by $44 million in the fiscal year 2022.
The Inside Defense reported that the recommended reduction is equal to approximately four Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) missiles, per the report accompanying the House Armed Services defense subcommittee’s mark-up of the fiscal year 2022 defense bill.
The ARRW program is a rapid prototyping project aimed at delivering a conventional hypersonic weapons capability to the Warfighter in the early 2020s. The weapon system is designed to provide combatant commanders the capability to destroy high-value, time-sensitive targets.
ARRW will also expand precision-strike weapon systems’ capabilities by enabling rapid response strikes against heavily defended land targets.
Hypersonic weapons provide a survivable and affordable capability that will overcome distance in contested environments using high speed, altitude and maneuverability. They amplify many of the enduring attributes of airpower – speed, range, flexibility and precision.