WASHINGTON - The Department of Defense (DoD) is advancing a new approach to long-range strike weapons by partnering with four companies to develop affordable cruise missile capabilities designed for scalable production.
The department announced it has selected Anduril Industries, CoAspire, Leidos and Zone 5 Technologies for the Low-Cost Containerized Missile (LCCM) program, an effort intended to accelerate development, experimentation and assessment of lower-cost strike weapons while expanding the industrial base supporting long-range precision strike capabilities.
The selected companies and their proposed missile systems include:
- Anduril Industries (Costa Mesa, Calif.) - Barracuda
- CoAspire (Fairfax, Va.) - Rapidly Adaptable Affordable Cruise Missile (RAACM/RAACM-ER)
- Leidos (Reston, Va.) - Black Arrow (AGM-190A)
- Zone 5 Technologies (Huntsville, Ala.) - AGM-188 Rusty Dagger
The LCCM program will begin with development, experimentation, and assessment activities intended to support potential future firm-fixed-price production contracts. The DoD said the framework agreements are designed to accelerate the fielding of affordable strike capabilities while establishing new pathways to work with commercial innovators and expand defense manufacturing capacity.
Related: MDA awards L3Harris Aeromet potential $500 million contract to sustain, modernize HALO airborne sensor fleet
Shifting toward affordable mass production
The LCCM effort reflects a broader Pentagon push to increase production capacity for long-range precision weapons by complementing high-end systems with lower-cost, scalable alternatives.
Recent conflicts have highlighted the importance of both advanced weapons and the ability to manufacture munitions in sufficient quantities. Affordable mass-missile initiatives seek to address that challenge by emphasizing production scalability, supply-chain resilience, and designs optimized for manufacturing.
The Air Force’s Family of Affordable Mass Missiles (FAMM) effort is a related initiative focused on developing affordable long-range strike weapons through modular designs, open architectures, and manufacturing approaches to support higher production rates.
Related: Longshot joins USAF's AEDC Velocity Alliance consortium
An Air Force request for information associated with FAMM highlighted interest in weapons capable of long-range strike missions that incorporate modular architectures, open systems approaches, production scalability, and the ability to operate in contested environments.
Designing missiles for production
The engineering challenge behind affordable missile development extends beyond reducing unit cost. Companies must balance performance requirements with manufacturing approaches that support rapid production, sustainment, and future upgrades.
CoAspire’s RAACM family, for example, incorporates additive manufacturing approaches intended to simplify production and enable design changes without extensive tooling modifications. The company has developed air-, surface-, and ground-launched variants of the missile family and has conducted flight testing.
Leidos’ Black Arrow builds on the company’s affordable cruise missile development work, while Anduril’s Barracuda represents a family of cruise missile concepts designed around scalable production. Zone 5 Technologies’ AGM-188 Rusty Dagger is also part of the company’s efforts to develop lower-cost, extended-range strike capabilities.
Open architectures and adaptable systems
A major focus of affordable missile initiatives is the ability to adapt systems as threats evolve. Modular designs and open architectures can allow upgrades to sensors, processors, software, and other subsystems without requiring complete weapon redesigns.
These approaches align with broader DoD efforts to incorporate digital engineering, flexible manufacturing, and commercial technology practices into defense acquisition.
The shift toward affordable mass-produced weapons could create demand for systems that support rapid manufacturing, embedded processing, mission computing, flight testing, and production-scale qualification.
