OREANDA-NEWS  The US Air Force has requested more than $806 million from Congress for fiscal year 2027 to complete tests of the new HACM hypersonic cruise missile and prepare it for mass production, according to budget documents reviewed by RIA Novosti.

Earlier in October, the War Zone portal, citing a representative of the US Air Force, reported that the Navy conducted the first flight tests of the HACM together with Australia. The development of this rocket has been underway since 2022. At that time, the United States openly talked about concerns about lagging behind Russia and China in the field of hypersonic weapons.
 
They want to invest almost $ 273 million in enterprises and suppliers that will produce HACM, so that after the launch of mass production they can quickly increase the production of missiles without delay, according to documents reviewed by RIA Novosti.

The Raytheon Defense Corporation will receive about $412 million more. Of these, 263.3 million will be spent on parts for new missiles, checking their design and purchasing components that must be ordered in advance. Another 148.7 million is provided for the further development of HACM under a separate contract, the details of which are classified.

Almost $89 million has been allocated directly for testing: the assembly of ready-made prototypes, testing of their systems and subsequent flights. The remaining approximately 32.6 million will be used for engineering support and program management.

The Air Force expects to begin production of HACM as early as fiscal year 2027. The budget documents note that they decided to invest in enterprises in advance precisely so that they would not encounter supply delays after the start of production.

The HACM is an aircraft—launched hypersonic cruise missile designed to strike important targets from a long distance. The first carrier for it should be the F-15E fighter.

In total, the Air Force plans to spend about $3.12 billion on the program until fiscal year 2031.