The Multi-mission Affordable Capacity Effector (MACE) is a planned
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...
air-launched
anti-ship cruise missile
A cruise missile is an unmanned self-propelled guided missile that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large payload over long distances with high precision. Modern cru ...
intended to focus on cost-effectiveness, extended range and increased lethality. It has been described as essentially a "miniature cruise missile."
It is designed as an air-launched weapon with adequate stand-off ranges to enable lethality while minimizing significant survivability risks to manned platforms. It will be launched from the
F/A-18E/F Super Hornet
The Boeing F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet are a series of American supersonic twinjet, twin-engine, Carrier-based aircraft, carrier-capable, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft derived from the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Ho ...
,
F-35A and F-35C, and its intended range and usage will complement the
Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) currently fielded on the U.S. Navy's F/A-18 and the U.S. Air Force's
B-1B
The Rockwell B-1 Lancer is a supersonic variable-sweep wing, heavy bomber used by the United States Air Force. It has been nicknamed the "Bone" (from "B-One"). , it is one of the United States Air Force's three strategic bombers, along with th ...
platforms.
The design requirements state that four All-up Rounds (AURs) should be able to be carried internally on the F-35, in addition to external (pylon) carriage.
The Navy is interested in producing at least 500 missiles per year and would begin fielding an early version in FY2027.
The cost per AUR is required to be no greater than $300,000.
Production is also required to utilize digital engineering, WOSA compliance and design for export capability "that results in a modular weapon system capable of integrating alternative seekers, payloads and other subcomponents for different weapons variants as well as affordable upgrades to outpace adversaries without disrupting production throughput."
Defense analysts have noted that the MACE request bears similarities to the Air Force's request for the
Extended Range Attack Munition (ERAM).
See also
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Hypersonic Air Launched Offensive Anti-Surface
The Hypersonic Air Launched Offensive Anti-Surface (HALO) was a hypersonic air-launched anti-ship missile being developed for the United States Navy. It was designed to provide greater anti-surface warfare capability than the AGM-158C LRASM and ...
*
AGM-84 Harpoon
The Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile
manufactured by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Defense, Space & Security). The AGM-84E Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM) and later AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER (Standoff Land Attack Mis ...
*
GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb
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GBU-53/B StormBreaker SDB II
*
S8000 Banderol
The S8000 Banderol (Russian Language, Russian: S8000 Бандероль) is a small cruise missile developed by the Kronshtadt Group.
Name
Banderol means "package, or small parcel."
History
In May 2025 Military intelligence service of Ukrain ...
References
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Air-launched cruise missiles
Proposed weapons of the United States
Anti-ship missiles of the United States