The U.S. Air Force has carried out its first successful test of a hypersonic missile from an air launch Friday.
The Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) was deployed from a B-52H Stratofortress off the coast of South Carolina on Friday, according to the Air Force on Monday.
"The ARRW team successfully designed and tested an air-launched hypersonic missile in five years," Brig. Gen. Jason Bartolomei, Armament Directorate Program executive officer, said in a statement. "I am immensely proud of the tenacity and dedication this team has shown to provide a vital capability to our warfighter."
The weapon, named the All-Up-Round AGM-183A, was successful on its first launch of a full prototype operational missile. Previous tests were partial, focused on booster performance, according to the Air Force.
The missile reached speeds five times greater than the speed of sound, completing its flight path and detonating on the designated target area, as all test objectives were met, according to the release.
Edwards Air Force Base in California executed the test under the 412th Test Wing direction.
"ARRW is designed to enable the U.S. to hold fixed, high-value, time-sensitive targets at risk in contested environments," the Air Force noted.
The test comes amid reports Russia's Vladimir Putin has deployed hypersonic missiles in its war in Ukraine.
Russia has commissioned hypersonic weapons, while the U.S. has not, Putin noted Friday.
Putin also on Friday made the saber-rattling claim it is adding a preemptive nuclear strike to its military doctrine.
"If the potential adversary believes that it can use the theory of a preemptive strike and we don't, it makes us think about the threats posed by such ideas in other countries' defensive posture," Putin said.
In Washington, advisers to President Joe Biden viewed Putin's comments as "saber-rattling" and another veiled warning he could deploy a tactical nuclear weapon, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of the anonymity.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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