The U.S. Air Pressure launched for the primary time a brief clip displaying a B-1B Lancer bomber flying with an AGM-183 ARRW hypersonic weapon carried externally.
A U.S. Air Pressure B-1B Lancer bomber was proven for the primary time whereas carrying an AGM-183A Air-Launched Fast Response Weapon (ARRW). The hypersonic weapon was seen in a brief 2-second clip which was a part of an extended characteristic devoted to maintainers and launched on Edwards Air Pressure Base’s Instagram web page on Apr. 29, 2026.
ARRW on B-1B
It’s unclear when the take a look at flight with the ARRW on the B-1B Lancer was performed. The weapon is put in on an exterior pylon in the identical place which was already used prior to now to check the exterior carry of JDAM bombs and to hold operationally the Sniper focusing on pod.
The service already talked about years in the past its intention of integrating the AGM-183 on the BONE (from “B-One”, because the plane is unofficially nicknamed). Up to now, nevertheless, the weapon was all the time seen on the B-52H Stratofortress, and the Air Pressure didn’t announce assessments on the B-1B.
The mixing on the B-1B was additionally talked about within the latest Fiscal Yr 2027 Analysis, Improvement, Take a look at & Analysis (RDT&E) price range request. Particularly, this seems to be a part of the Hypersonic Integration Program, which the service explains it has “efficiently demonstrated the B-1B’s potential to execute a captive carry of a 5,000-pound class retailer and the discharge of a confirmed weapon form from a Load Adaptable Modular (LAM) pylon.”
This particular phrasing was additionally included in final 12 months’s price range request, presumably referring to the testing of the 5,000-pound GBU-72/B Superior 5K Penetrator, which was noticed on the BONE in 2024. The brand new pylons, whose procurement was equally talked about in final 12 months’s price range request, are supposed to enable the B-1B to hold externally a wide range of weapons with fewer constraints in comparison with older methods.
Hypersonic Integration Program and Expanded Weapons Integration
The Air Pressure was initially trying to retire the B-1B by 2030, though it’s now trying to prolong the service lifetime of the bomber to at the very least 2037. In the meantime, the service has been trying to equip the BONE for stand-off assaults with bigger volumes of weapons.
That is a part of the Expanded Weapons Integration program, which is described as follows within the price range documentation:
“EXPANDED WEAPONS INTEGRATION: This funding helps the B-1B Expanded Weapons Integration (EWI) program, a Steady Enchancment Program (CIP) important for sustaining the platform’s fight relevance in opposition to refined adversaries, offering B-1B the power to counter pacing and future threats. The first goal of EWI is to advance the B-1B’s potential to ship a various vary of standoff munitions, a essential functionality for executing missions in contested anti-access/space denial (A2/AD) environments. Present efforts give attention to increasing the general exterior carriage arsenal, together with however not restricted to: Guided Bomb Unit (GBU)-72, a number of Joint Air-to-Floor Standoff Missile (JASSM) and Lengthy-Vary Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), Joint Direct Assault Munition (JDAM), Air Launched Fast Response Weapon (ARRW) and Air to Floor Missile (AGM-183).
New Begin FY 2027.
This program will combine superior weapon methods, together with hypersonic missiles, by funding the requisite engineering, software program improvement, and complete testing to certify new weapon methods for protected carriage and employment. By increasing the B-1B’s payload and mission flexibility, this program considerably enhances its contribution to the nation’s long-range strike portfolio, ensures it stays a formidable asset able to assembly future mission calls for, and improves total fight readiness.
New Begin FY 2027.”
The brand new price range request notably reveals that the Air Pressure intends to deliver again the AGM-183 ARRW with a $345.7 million request for FY2027 and a complete of $1.7 billion till FY2030. These funds could be used for each the ARRW’s Increment 2 program, which provides enhanced capabilities, and the brand new Air-Launched Ballistic Missile (ALBM).
The service beforehand stated it didn’t intend to proceed this system, which had its share of troubles with a number of take a look at flights failed. Nevertheless, the Air Pressure nonetheless accomplished the deliberate testing marketing campaign, amassing information which might be used to additional mature hypersonic applied sciences.
The FY2026 price range request already talked about the Air Pressure’s intention to make use of the brand new Load Adaptable Modular (LAM) pylons to make use of the B-1B as take a look at mattress for hypersonic weapons. Boeing, the producer of the brand new pylons, equally stated the “Air Pressure intends to make use of the B-1 and pylons to check hypersonic weapons within the close to time period.”
Boeing defined the B-1 can accommodate six pylons, every able to loading two 2,000-pound-class weapons or a 5,000-pound-plus-class future weapon. The pylons can be put in on the exterior hardpoints that had been initially current on the B-1B and later eliminated.
The burden of the ARRW has not formally been confirmed, though it’s estimated to be roughly 5,000 lb. This might imply that the B-1B may someday be cleared to hold as much as six AGM-183 hypersonic weapons underneath its fuselage.
The service beforehand stated that ARRW is supposed to offer an offensive, high-speed strike functionality to destroy high-value, time-sensitive, land-based targets in anti-access/area-denial environments.
