Lockheed Martin plans to unveil a brand new “affordable” cruise missile on Monday with a value of about $150,000 and a variety of over 500 miles because the protection contractor works to faucet a U.S. want to discourage Chinese language ambitions within the Pacific.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed U.S. and different international locations’ fascinated by armaments towards a brand new technique often called “affordable mass,” that means having loads of comparatively low cost weapons on the prepared.
The Widespread Multi-Mission Truck (CMMT) missile idea is a brand new product that goals to develop a household of low-cost modular weapons from Lockheed and its companions’ present catalog of parts.
The CMMT missile is designed to fill a niche between lower-cost standoff glide weapons and costlier cruise missiles, Scott Callaway, Director, Reasonably priced Mass, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Hearth Management instructed Reuters in a latest interview.
If the Pentagon decides to purchase the brand new providing, Callaway mentioned Lockheed might make 2,500 a yr as soon as a manufacturing line was working.
CMMT is “a subsonic, low-cost, long-range cruise missile,” Callaway mentioned. Its low-cost turbine engines can not, nonetheless, compete with cruise missiles comparable to Lockheed’s AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Floor Standoff Missile.
The JASSM is a 1,000-pound missile costing over $1.5 million per merchandise.
The economic scale of the warfare in Ukraine has highlighted the need for deeper inventories of comparatively cheap weapons.
CMMT is designed to be modular, permitting for numerous variants to fulfill varied mission necessities.
These embody a longer-range model — deployable from plane just like the C-17, fighters and bombers — in addition to a shorter-range model.
A maritime strike variant can be envisioned, doubtlessly to be employed in swarms with various seeker mechanisms for better effectiveness.
Callaway mentioned Lockheed Martin was aiming to promote the fundamental air car for $150,000 per unit, which it thought of aggressive.
