Air Force breathes life into hypersonic programs in FY-26

The Air Force has included about $387 million for the Lockheed Martin AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon in its procurement plans for fiscal year 2026, according to budget documents obtained by Inside Defense, reviving a program that had been left out of previous requests.

The service, however, did not list how many of the long-range hypersonic missiles it would acquire.

The Air Force in its FY-25 budget proposal requested zero procurement or research and development dollars for ARRW. Service officials at the time told reporters it could decide to make purchases in future fiscal years.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin last week disclosed to lawmakers the service would likely revive ARRW in FY-26 but would not elaborate further during the public hearing due to the program’s classification level.

“There are two systems that are now continuing to develop and moving beyond the [research and development] and getting into the procurement range in the very near future,” Allvin told members of the House Armed Services Committee. “We are accelerating in our development, not only the technology but of the procurement of the capabilities.”

The other program he is referring to is the smaller-sized RTX-made Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile -- which is slated to cost $1.9 billion to prototype. Test dates for the HACM program remain unknown.

In FY-26, the Air Force would funnel about $802.8 million in HACM to continue RDT&E, according to the documents reviewed by Inside Defense.

None of the spending requested for ARRW or HACM would rely on passage of the $150 billion budget reconciliation bill, which has not yet been agreed upon by lawmakers, the FY-26 procurement and RDT&E documents show.

Although the Trump administration has not yet filed its final, detailed budget proposal for next year, officials have submitted a “skinny budget” to lawmakers which includes a defense topline of $831.5 billion -- the same amount enacted in FY-25.

The rest of the Pentagon’s budget depends on whether Congress approves the "Big, Beautiful Bill,” officials have said. If allowed, the majority of that money would be spent in FY-26 -- potentially bringing next year’s spending to about $1 trillion.