The AGM-181 Long Range Stand Off Weapon (LRSO) is a
nuclear-armed air-launched cruise missile
An air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) is a cruise missile that is launched from a military aircraft. Current versions are typically standoff weapons which are used to attack predetermined land targets with conventional, nuclear or thermonuclea ...
under development by
Raytheon Technologies
Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitaliz ...
that will replace the
AGM-86 ALCM.
Development
As of August 24, 2017,
Raytheon
Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitaliz ...
and
Lockheed Martin received separate $900 million contracts from the Department of Defense and
US Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
and are developing their own versions. Contracts were intended to end in 2022, when the Department of Defense will select one design to continue further developments.
To replace the ALCM, the USAF planned to award a contract for the development of the new Long-Range Stand-Off weapon in 2015. Unlike the AGM-86, the LRSO will be carried on multiple aircraft. The LRSO program is to develop a weapon that can penetrate and survive integrated air defense systems and prosecute strategic targets. The weapons are required to reach initial operational capability (IOC) before the retirement of their respective ALCM versions, around 2030.
The technology development contracts were to be submitted before the end of 2012. In March 2014 a further three-year delay in the project was announced by the Department of Defense, delaying a contract award until fiscal year 2018. The House Armed Services Committee moved to reject this delay. The delay was caused by financial pressures and an uncertain acquisition plan, and allowed by the long remaining service life left for the AGM-86 and lack of urgent necessity compared to other defense needs. The designations YAGM-180A and YAGM-181A have been allocated to the LRSO prototypes from Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies respectively. The FY2020 defense authorization bill passed by Congress repealed the requirement for a conventional warhead version of the LRSO, leaving only the nuclear armed variant. The Air Force will use the
JASSM-ER and the longer-ranged JASSM-XR to fulfill the conventional standoff missile role.
In April 2020, the Air Force announced plans to continue the Long-Range Standoff Weapon’s development with Raytheon Company as a sole-source contractor.
On 1 July 2021, the USAF awarded Raytheon a
cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the engineering and manufacturing development stage of the LRSO program, with options that could take the contract to about
US$2 billion. DefenseNews reported that the USAF could buy more than 1,000 LRSO missiles, which are projected to have a range in excess of .
[Raytheon wins $2B contract for new nuclear cruise missile]
Valerie Insinna, DefenseNews.com, 2021-07-06
Design
The LRSO will be integrated with the
B-52H and
B-21
The Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider is an American strategic bomber under development for the United States Air Force (USAF) by Northrop Grumman. As part of the Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) program, it is to be a long-range, stealth intercon ...
bomber.
The missile's nuclear warhead will be the
W80 mod 4 warhead.
Users
* (planned)
See also
*
AGM-158 JASSM
References
{{US missiles
Air-to-surface missiles of the United States
Nuclear cruise missiles of the United States
Nuclear weapons