The Pentagon announced framework agreements for new multiyear deals with three companies to mass-produce more affordable, less exquisite air-to-ground missiles for the Air Force, part of a larger strategy to bring cheaper firepower to a future fight.
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The Pentagon announced new long-term agreements with four defense companies May 13 to develop and produce large numbers of low-cost cruise missiles. And while the effort will focus mostly on the Army to start, it pairs with Air Force efforts to find more affordable munitions.
The Air Force wants to pump more than $12 billion over the next five years into its new affordable long-range missiles program and recently asked industry to push the flights of some of those munitions beyond 1,200 miles.
The Air Force recently tested the Rusty Dagger, a low-cost cruise missile, with the F-16, one of several industry offerings in the Pentagon's larger effort to field affordable weapons.
The Air Force has awarded a $29.7 million contract to engine startup Beehive Industries to complete work on a new disposable jet engine meant to power drones and munitions. The contract is just the latest step in the service’s effort to massively scale up production ...
New approaches to acquisition, faster testing, and lessons from combat are shrinking the Air Force’s timelines for fielding low-cost munitions from years to months, a top Air Force weapons official told the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 24.
The Air Force is poised to begin evaluating a new class of low-cost missiles needed to defeat the rapid growth of aerial threats it’s likely to face in the next conflict.
Lockheed Martin has revealed a second version of its Common Multi-Mission Truck vehicle, and both types have recently been tested successfully, the company said.