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The United States has deployed nine nuclear cruise missiles at one time or another. The War Zone has collected the latest unit costs of these weapons to give readers a sense of just how much it is spending to arm its fleet. It should be stressed that these are the prices for just the individual weapons and the figures do not factor in any future spending on support services, modifications, upgrades, or past spending on the weapons' development. Adoption of Agile processes allowed the team to develop the Gray Wolf design on an accelerated timeline, completing the system final design review with AFRL just ten months after contract award. B-52H bombers carry six AGM-86B or AGM-86C missiles on each of two externally mounted pylons and eight internally on a rotary launcher, giving the B-52H a maximum capacity of 20 missiles per aircraft.
Digital Design and Development Accelerates Delivery
It also will integrate a new warhead that will have a broader range of capabilities, including greater penetrating power. The effort’s second phase is scheduled this year and will address critical parts of the cruise missile development, including the demonstration and fielding of the weapons, the fabrication of a system family, and the manufacturing test bed for future on-demand production. CALCM's next employment occurred in September 1996 during Operation Desert Strike. In response to Iraq's continued hostilities against the Kurds in northern Iraq, the Air Force launched 13 CALCMs in a joint attack with the Navy. This mission has put the CALCM program in the spotlight for future modifications. Operation Desert Strike was also the combat debut of the B-52H and the carriage of the CALCM on the weapons bay-mounted Common Strategic Rotary Launcher (CSRL).
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Commentary is produced by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a private, tax-exempt institution focusing on international public policy issues. Accordingly, all views, positions, and conclusions expressed in this publication should be understood to be solely those of the author(s). During a July 2 briefing, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the Defense Department aims to keep LRSO development on track, even as it executes a Nuclear Posture Review that could eventually call for the weapon’s cancellation. The Department of Defense provides the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security. The competition for Warfighter Training and Readiness Solutions will bring together training networks, combat training centers and live ranges across the DoD enterprise. Clark, the Hudson analyst, agreed that the mix was important, saying that even with the arrival of faster missiles, the Tomahawk has a place.
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Initial stages involve configuring a basic cruise missile, lacking sophisticated target tracking, engagement, maneuvering, or propulsion capabilities to maintain cost-effectiveness. Air Force WeaponONE Digital Enterprise Program, researchers are combining the strengths of digital engineering and open-architecture designs to address a dynamic spectrum of threats. Northrop Grumman's Gray Wolf cruise missile design is one of the latest results of this effort, bringing cost efficiencies and collaborative thinking together to produce a framework for digitally designed weapons. Soon after development began, it was noted that the very small nuclear warheads being developed at that time could be fit to SCAD without seriously affecting its performance as a decoy. This would allow it to act as a decoy for much of its flight, and then deliberately approach a selected defensive site and attack it.
US Air Force Opens Competition to Develop Low-Cost Cruise Missiles - The Defense Post
US Air Force Opens Competition to Develop Low-Cost Cruise Missiles.
Posted: Tue, 09 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
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Space is at a greater premium on the F-35 and Super Hornet, a reality that likely explains the RFI’s advisement that, "The USN desired MACE solution will maximize weapon load-out..." Cruise missiles can be categorized by payload/warhead size, speed, range, and launch platform. Often variants of the same missile are produced for different launch platforms (for instance, air- and submarine-launched versions).
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We will look at the variables that influence the cost of cruise missiles, examine different types available, and explore the cost of launching them. We will also discuss the financial impact of cruise missile technology, including its potential benefits and risks. In addition to defending commercial shipping, air and missile defenses protect the value of the U.S. ships deployed to the region. The recent air defense engagement by the USS Gravely (DDG 107) illustrates the potential risk of overemphasizing the relative cost of interceptors. In that engagement, the Gravely used its Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) to engage an incoming anti-ship cruise missile. The 20-millimeter (mm) rounds fired by the CIWS were likely cheaper than the anti-ship cruise missile they engaged.
"In March 2021 AFRL completed initial laboratory validation of the system and declared Gray Wolf to be officially compliant with the WOSA contract requirements," he added. Salluce explained that the final Gray Wolf design featured a flexible, networked, open architecture that could support a range of payloads. One strategic goal of the program was to maximize loadouts and carriage of Gray Wolf vehicles on a wide variety of US Air Force and US Navy platforms. The first example, similar to the original SCAD in most ways, flew for the first time in March 1976, and its new guidance system was first tested that September.
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Air defenses buy time to find another means to end the Houthi threat to shipping lanes. In this light, the important issue is not whether a single interceptor costs more than the missile it defeated, but rather whether those interceptors successfully allowed the United States to pursue its goals in the region effectively. If so, the employment of air defense interceptors in the Red Sea represents funds well spent. In January 1968, a new requirement emerged for a modern version of Quail for this new mission, the Subsonic Cruise Aircraft Decoy, or SCAD. SCAD was designed specifically to fit onto the same rotary launcher used by SRAM, allowing a single aircraft to carry multiple SRAM and SCAD and launch either at any time.
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Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) issued an RFI (request for information) for possible offerings for what it calls a Multi-mission Affordable Capacity Effector (MACE) system in early February. MACE would be a long-range cruise missile that can be rapidly prototyped, manufactured en masse and be ready to begin fielding by Fiscal 2027. The USAF adopted the AGM-86 for its bomber fleet while AGM-109 was adapted to launch from trucks and ships and adopted by the USAF and Navy. The truck-launched versions, and also the Pershing II and SS-20 Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles, were later destroyed under the bilateral INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) treaty with the USSR.
A nuclear missile with a .5km initial blast radius would require a yield of 100kt and has a yield 5 times greater than the “Fat Man” and “Little Boy” bombs dropped during WWII. Buildings would collapse up to a 2.12km radius with thermal radiation causing 3rd degree burns extending to a 4km radius from the initial point of detonation. The impulse toward efficiency and cost consciousness in defense spending is important in spending taxpayer money effectively. However, the goal of the Department of Defense is not to have the most favorable accounting balance, but to provide a military capable of supporting U.S. national security priorities. Over the long term, the United States cannot afford to play catch against every Houthi missile attack in the Red Sea.
Between 1957 and 1961 the United States followed an ambitious and well-funded program to develop a nuclear-powered cruise missile, Supersonic Low Altitude Missile (SLAM). It was designed to fly below the enemy's radar at speeds above Mach 3 and carry hydrogen bombs that it would drop along its path over enemy territory. Although the concept was proven sound and the 500-megawatt engine finished a successful test run in 1961, no airworthy device was ever completed. AFWERX set a new challenge for future low-cost cruise missiles, with a 500 nautical mile range, high subsonic speed, at $150,000 per unit. In the inaugural Weapons PEO Challenge, participants are tasked with designing a foundational architecture for future low-cost missiles, featuring a 500-nautical miles range, high subsonic speed, and a target cost of $150,000 per unit for bulk orders.
Air Force deployed Matador units in West Germany, whose missiles were capable of striking targets in the Warsaw Pact, from their fixed day-to-day sites to unannounced dispersed launch locations. This alert was in response to the crisis posed by the Soviet attack on Hungary which suppressed the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Current Air Force plans call for the procurement of about 1,000 new nuclear-capable missiles to replace the current fleet of AGM-86B missiles that have been operational since 1986. The service says a new ALCM is needed because the existing missiles are becoming increasingly difficult to maintain and are losing their ability to penetrate sophisticated air defenses. The US, foreseeing such challenges, initiated programs like Rapid Dragon before the Ukraine conflict, focusing on strategic tensions in the western Pacific with China.
These missiles travel faster than the speed of sound, usually using ramjet engines. A hypersonic cruise missile travels at least five times the speed of sound (Mach 5). The envisioned missile is envisioned as a pre-loaded, coordinated assault from multiple directions, capable of overwhelming enemy SAM assets. While advanced capabilities like mid-course updates are excluded to maintain affordability, the overall strategy aligns with a synchronized mass salvo complementing other aerial actions, such as air-to-ground strikes or air dominance missions. Russia’s strategic use of kamikaze drones and a variety of missiles, coupled with Ukraine’s expenditure of Western-origin expensive missile systems, underscores the urgency for the US to innovate.
Gray Wolf digital models and hardware-in-the-loop components will be used as a surrogate weapon platform to support research of current and future weapon capabilities. The CALCM was also used in Operation Desert Fox in 1998, Operation Allied Force in 1999, and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Operation Iraqi Freedom was also the combat debut of the AGM-86D, a further development of the missile which replaced the blast/fragmentation warhead of the AGM-86C with a penetrating warhead. As SCAD moved from the pure-decoy role to decoy-and-attack, this meant it would be able to carry out the same mission as SRAM, but from much longer range.
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