Lockheed Martin expands its Troy, Alabama plant for the ARRW hypersonic missile of the B-52 after a $694 million Air Force contract

Lockheed Martin is moving the ARRW (Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon) hypersonic missile from testing into serial production. The company announced on Tuesday, October 27 that the US Air Force had awarded it a $694 million contract for the production of the weapon, which has been integrated on the B-52 bomber. The same day the company held a groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of its plant in Troy, Alabama, where the missile will be built.

The project concerns Building P-20, to which 47,000 square feet (about 4,400 square metres) of production space are being added for the ARRW. The expansion triples the building’s current production area, and the company speaks of new jobs over the next four years, which will be added to its almost 4,000 employees in Alabama. The line will rely on advanced manufacturing methods, robotics and digital technologies.

Lockheed Martin did not wait for state funding to start. It has already invested $67 million in expanding the facility and its equipment, and has covered with its own funds the work, materials and machinery needed to begin production. The sum is part of the $8 to $9 billion investment programme through 2030 with which the company wants to meet demand for munitions.

The ARRW is designed to fly faster than Mach 5, more than five times the speed of sound, and to hit targets quickly from long stand-off distances. Advanced materials manage the extreme heat of flight, while an advanced technology package maintains the weapon’s accuracy and lethality and lets it overcome a wide range of defence systems. The company describes it as a hypersonic strike capability that can be deployed rapidly and answer emerging threats.

“The ARRW production contract demonstrates Lockheed Martin’s ability to develop and start production of cutting-edge systems with unprecedented speed and scale,” said Tim Cahill, president of the Missiles and Fire Control business. He added that the missile broadens the company’s weapons portfolio and gives the US Air Force “a critical, highly accurate and enduring hypersonic capability” that will strengthen its strategic advantage across multiple domains.

The contract comes after years of joint development and testing with the Air Force, including the test of the AGM-183A ARRW in the Pacific in March 2024, as we reported in an earlier article. The company will continue research and development for the long-term support of the programme. Lockheed Martin cites more than 60 years of experience in hypersonic strike weapons. In the same field, the first flight test of the HACM took place in early October, as we covered in HACM: first flight test of the US Air Force’s hypersonic cruise missile.