Defence manufacturer Lockheed Martin is developing a new cruise missile it says will have more range and cost less than existing precision munitions.
The armaments producer revealed the new product, which is still in research and development phases, on 16 September at the Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) conference near Washington DC.
Called the AGM-158 XR – shorthand for “extreme range” – the missile will be based on technology Lockheed developed for two of its other munitions: the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), the company says.
Those platforms can be launched from multi-role strike fighters and are intended to hit targets over substantial distances.
But the US Air Force (USAF) faces challenges posed by longer-range threats.
Speaking during the AFA event, secretary of the US Air Force Frank Kendall said, “The threat is now reaching out to longer and longer ranges”, driving demand for longer-range weapons.
Lockheed is positioning the AGM-158 XR as a solution.
Michael Rothstein, vice-president of air weapons and sensors at Lockheed, describes the missile as a stretched version of the JASSM-Extended Range, which offers more room for onboard propellant.
“The range is significantly different,” Rothstein says, without specifying distances.
Lockheed’s current focus is producing the latest JASSM-D and LRASM-C3 models, for which the company is under contract with the USAF and US Navy.
Rothstein says the AGM-158 XR will benefit from Lockheed’s work on those programmes, adding: “It’s not a new-start weapon.”
“The investment is… rock solid,” adds Lockheed general manager of air dominance and strike weapons Jon Hill.
By leveraging its JASSM and LRASM production lines in Troy, Alabama, Lockheed insists it can bring the AGM-158 XR to production-ready status at a fraction of the cost of developing all-new weapon systems.
Though such a milestone remains several years out, Lockheed could begin flight testing a prototype within one or two years, Rothstein says – if the Pentagon shows sufficient interest.
The increased size and weight of the AGM-158 XR makes the weapon incompatible with the USAF’s Lockheed Martin F-16s. However, Rothstein says the munition could be carried by all variants of Lockheed’s fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighter, and by Boeing’s F-15E and aircraft carrier-based F/A-18E.
Lockheed’s two facilities in Troy produce about 720 missiles annually, including LRASMs and JASSMs.
The company aims to expand capacity to accommodate annual production of 1,100 missiles, though it needs more orders from the Pentagon or overseas customers to hit that rate.
