After years of development, we have gotten our first look at what the USAF’s new AGM-181A Long-Range Standoff (LRSO) nuclear-armed cruise missile could actually look like. The program is a top priority for the Air Force and its Global Strike Command. LRSO is set to replace America’s only nuclear-armed cruise missile in operation today, the AGM-86B Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM), which has served since the twilight of the Cold War. The AGM-86B missile has even remained in service long after the more advanced and stealthy AGM-129 Advanced Cruise Missile (ACM) was retired after just over two decades of service (1990-2012). You can read all about the AGM-129 and the AGM-86B in this past feature.
Most notably from this first unclassified render, the LRSO features an inverted tail very similar to the conventionally-armed AGM-158 JASSM stealthy air-launched cruise missile. The AGM-129 featured a similar arrangement, although with a differently shaped vertical tail. The missile looks like it has a trapezoidal fuselage cross-section design with a wedge-like nose. The wing design is also similar to JASSM. We see no air inlet in the concept rendering, which could be for security reasons, considering the inlet design is often a closely guarded feature on stealthy flying machines, or it could be located on the top of the missile. We also can’t say with any certainty how accurate this official rendering is of the actual design, but it is a given that some features will be omitted or even misleading for an initial public release.
The airborne leg is already the most flexible of America’s nuclear triad. Bombers can be positioned anywhere around the globe, both in the air and forward deployed on the ground. They can also be rapidly recalled as needed, signalling de-escalation. This is a critical tool for strategic messaging that could potentially avert a nuclear holocaust. The nuclear-armed cruise missile component of this capability allows for standoff attacks that present a real challenge for traditional air defenses and cannot be readily identified by ballistic missile-focused early warning architectures. So, as a result, in this new age of so-called ‘great power competition,’ with the AGM-129 already retired from service and the AGM-86B growing very old and becoming questionably survivable, a new, more capable and resilient long-range nuclear-tipped cruise missile was deemed necessary. This became the AGM-181A LRSO.
This new weapon system, built by Raytheon, will be carried by both the new B-21 Raider and the venerable B-52 Stratofortress. The B-52 is also set to be deeply upgraded, overall, as you can learn more about here.
Otherwise, little is known about the LRSO’s capabilities as the program remains highly classified in many respects. Still, one can expect a subsonic missile with greater range than its predecessors that features a very tough-to-detect and track airframe and engine combination. Strict emissions control and the ability to navigate in any environment, including one where access to GPS is degraded or denied, and dense electronic warfare is the norm, will be critical. Autonomously reacting to threats in its area to better ensure its best path to its target will also likely be a feature. Combined, these elements will offer the missile and its launch platform more employment options and far greater survivability, especially as very long-range integrated air defenses mature at a rapid pace.
LRSO has been in secretive flight testing for years now, and it will feature the updated W80-4 thermonuclear warhead. The weapon is also part of the larger Long Range Strike family of systems, which includes the B-21 as its centerpiece, as well as new command and control, space-based support assets, weapons, communications, and other technologies, possibly including classified fixed-wing companion aircraft. These capabilities will work to become something greater than the sum of their parts in order to achieve success in a future combat environment that will be far more threatening than any in the past.
When it comes to the price tag, as we noted in a previous report from 2023:
“The Pentagon acquisition report does peg the estimated LRSO program acquisition cost, as of December 2022 and based on the expected purchase of 1,020 missiles in total, at just over $16 billion. Sustaining the missiles over a 30-year lifespan is expected to cost another $7 billion or so.”
More current estimates put the cost of LRSO at around $14M each.
Previous plans to make a conventionally-armed variant of the LRSO seem to have been dropped, with further extrapolations of the popular AGM-158 JASSM series of air-launched stealthy cruise missiles filling that role.
If this first rendering is any indication, LRSO has moved well forward in its development, and we are likely to hear more about it and finally see it in full in the not-too-distant future. The missile has been expected to begin entering operational service toward the end of the decade. Then again, few programs are safe just yet as this new administration looks to manifest its priorities in its first defense budget, which we should be seeing in full any time now.
Contact the author: Tyler@twz.com
