Battlefield Contractor

"I've heard about the test firing of the AGM-183A missile, but it seems to be some accident." Lin Rui said.

Aladdin sighed, "AGM-183A uses rocket-assisted glider technology and uses solid-assisted rockets to accelerate the projectile.

After reaching a certain speed, the head fairing of the projectile opens the internal glider to accelerate the flight, and it will not leave the atmosphere at all times.

The fastest speed can reach Mach 20, and the maximum range can reach 1,600 kilometers.

The U.S. Air Force hopes that in the future F-15EX, B-52H bombers, B-1B bombers, B-2 bombers, and B-21 bombers that are still under development,

This missile with extremely strong penetration capability can be used to strike the enemy's depth, high-value targets and time-sensitive targets.

The U.S. military originally had an advantage in hypersonic weapons, but the Americans wanted to take the air-breathing punching route in one step.

It stands to reason that this should not be a problem for Lockheed Martin, but there have been many failures in test firing.

The first test launch was at the end of December 2020. Will Roper, then Assistant Secretary of Acquisition, Technology and Logistics of the U.S. Air Force, predicted that

The AGM-183 air-launched rapid reaction weapon ARRW will fly before the end of 2020.

However, a failure occurred during the test and the test was forced to be cancelled. The US military's plan to conduct a test firing before 2021 fell through.

It was reported afterwards that the missile failed during the AGM-183A air-launched rapid reaction weapon ARRW test flight at the end of December 2020, and the U.S. military was forced to cancel the test.

And attributed it to a stupid mistake; the report claimed that a technician did not follow the checklist, and another source reported that the control surface was incorrectly fixed.

The second test launch was also forced to be cancelled at the beginning of 2021. The specific circumstances are unknown.

The US Air Force stated that this failed trial test was a small bump on the road, and the problem was resolved within 30 days.

The third and first test flight of the U.S. military was on April 5, 2021.

At that time, the US Air Force tried to launch the AGM-183A air-launched rapid response weapon ARRW, but the missile did not detach from the pylon of the B-52H bomber.

Brigadier General Heath A. Collins, Secretary of the Weapons Department, said at the time that the inability to complete the launch sequence of the missiles was disappointing, but the test provided useful data.

The test in April 2021 was conducted in the waters of Cape Mugu, California.

It was supposed to be the first time the AGM-183A air-launched rapid response weapon launched a booster and flew on its own, but the missile did not complete the launch sequence again and still stayed on the B-52H bomber.

The bomber then returned to Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Afterwards, the US military stated that it was a problem with the test bomber that caused the missile to be unsuccessfully launched. And said it will conduct the next test launch in July.

After that, the U.S. military was obviously more cautious and carried out many full-process tests, that is, the entire launch process went through but did not launch.

For example, in May 2021, according to the U.S. Air Force, a B-52H bomber demonstrated the simulated firing of AGM-183A missiles at a target 600 nautical miles away during the northern fringe exercise in Alaska.

Also in May, the U.S. Air Force successfully tested the avionics, sensors, and communication systems used by the AGM-183A.

It was reported on July 7 that the U.S. Air Force had successfully tested the warhead of the AGM-183A air-launched rapid-response hypersonic missile for the first time recently.

In the most recent test, the missile was successfully separated from the pylon, but then the missile failed to ignite, and the test vehicle hit the Pacific directly from a high altitude. "

"A weapon in trouble." Lin Rui shrugged.

"Indeed, but in fact, if you know Lockheed Martin well, you will know that the booster rocket engine used by AGM183A is a very mature technology in the United States.

The missile does not require acceleration to a particularly high speed, but only provides an initial speed, which is not a problem for Lockheed Martin. "Aladdin whispered.

"The secret society organization is sabotaging their launch plan? How can they do it?" Lin Rui frowned.

"The secret society organization used a very ingenious technique. In fact, it was all small people who caused the actual firing of the weapon to fail, and the problems were all small.

But they can make the AGM-183A air-launched type rapid response to the failure of the hypersonic missile launch, and they cannot even be held accountable afterwards.

This is a demonstration and warning organized by the secret agency. "Aladdin replied.

"Are they threatening Lockheed Martin?" Lin Rui shook his head in disbelief. "Lockheed Martin is the world's top large military industry group, and it has a very close relationship with the top Americans.

As you said, it is a corner of the iron triangle that can even influence the decision-making of the US government. Dare secret agencies threaten them? "

Aladdin replied, "Yes. Although they had cooperated, they were basically in the late nineties.

But now their goals are seriously divided. These military industry giants have been actively advancing the deployment of the US military in Africa.

The presence of these big countries in Africa has severely restricted the development of secret agencies.

Large military-industrial groups hope that Western countries will pay attention to Africa, use an excuse to combat global terrorist activities, and obtain more orders and benefits.

The secret agency hopes that the turbulent situation in Africa will continue so that they can win in chaos.

They are all divided in that these military-industrial groups are aggressively selling arms in Africa and providing training for the African army.

This has brought great trouble to the expansion of the secret society organization in Africa. "

"I see. The Americans have proposed to allow African people to participate in anti-terrorism operations in Africa, including the formation of various anti-terrorist alliances.

Distributing weapons and providing training have in fact strengthened various armed organizations in Africa.

This is precisely what the secret agency is dissatisfied with. Although they have established a firm foothold in the Orumi Federation, they still hope to continue to develop.

The increasing force in the surrounding areas made them quite dissatisfied. Lin Rui nodded.

"That's it." Aladdin sighed, "Actually, this is a dispute between two large interest groups. Both are not good things.

On the one hand, there are war mongers who sell arms only for profit. The other side is an ambitious terrorist group.

Lockheed Martin certainly won't buy it, but if it doesn't, it will have to pay the price. The secret society organization has always been like this, the opponent either succumbed or was eliminated. "

"So the failure of these AGM-183A air-launched rapid-response hypersonic missiles was caused by the secret society organization?" Lin Rui was surprised.

"As far as I know, there have been at least three occasions when the secret society was instigating it." Aladdin replied.