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).

References

{{Reflist Air-launched cruise missiles Proposed weapons of the United States Anti-ship missiles of the United States

See also

References