{"id":48888,"date":"2026-07-15T19:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T19:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2026\/07\/15\/us-air-force-turns-to-cheaper-cruise-missiles-it-can-buy-by-the-thousand\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:22:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:22:51","slug":"us-air-force-turns-to-cheaper-cruise-missiles-it-can-buy-by-the-thousand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/industry\/techwatch\/2026\/07\/15\/us-air-force-turns-to-cheaper-cruise-missiles-it-can-buy-by-the-thousand\/","title":{"rendered":"US Air Force turns to cheaper cruise missiles it can buy by the thousands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Pentagon<\/a> is moving to buy thousands of affordable cruise missiles<\/a>, reaching framework agreements with three companies on Wednesday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deals fall under the U.S. Air Force\u2019s Family of Affordable Mass Missiles program, or FAMM. The Defense Department<\/a> said it reached agreements with Anduril for its Barracuda-500, CoAspire for its Rapidly Adaptable Affordable Cruise Missile and Zone 5 Technologies for its Rusty Dagger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move boils down to cost-effectiveness<\/a>. The Air Force is betting that low-cost weapons can do the work the service once reserved for far more expensive munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles<\/a>, designed to be fired at heavily defended targets from a safe distance, cost more than $1.3 million apiece. The service wants its new missiles for a fraction of that, closer to $218,000 per round, cheap enough to shoot many for less than it once cost to shoot one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FAMM program splits into a lugged variant carried by fighters and bombers (FAMM-L) and a palletized variant dropped from airlifters (FAMM-P), both with ranges of 250 to 500 miles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anduril said its framework agreement<\/a> runs seven years, with deliveries starting in 2027. According to the company, the Air Force intends to buy up to 8,000 FAMM rounds a year across both variants and all the competing vendors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deals are framework agreements, not orders for missiles. They set the terms and promise the companies steady business, giving them a reason to invest in bigger production lines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Defense Department said the missiles still have to complete testing and qualification, and that the actual buys depend on Congress approving the multiyear deals the Pentagon is seeking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anduril pitched its missile as proof that cheaper weapons can be built at volume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBarracuda-500 is specifically designed to expand the United States\u2019 stand-off strike capability,\u201d Anduril said in its release. \u201cBy augmenting existing critical munitions inventories with a more affordable, producible, and flexible option, Anduril is enhancing America\u2019s arsenal of munitions, ensuring that we have the capability required to deter our adversaries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To keep the vendors competing, the Pentagon is splitting the work among all qualified suppliers under firm fixed-price terms with a minimum order floor, and companies that beat their production schedules become eligible for additional orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Budget projections call for 28,000 missiles across all vendors over five years for $12.6 billion, reaching 7,990 rounds in the final year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agreements stem from the Acquisition Transformation Strategy, the Pentagon\u2019s push under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to buy weapons faster and from nontraditional suppliers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Michael P. Duffey said the FAMM deals showed the department \u201cexpanding the defense industrial base, fielding capabilities faster, and attracting private investment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zone 5 runs its U.S. operation from California but was acquired in June by Kongsberg, a Norwegian defense company. Anduril and CoAspire are based in California and Virginia, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agreement comes on the heels of a May announcement<\/a> that tapped the same three companies, along with Leidos, for the Army-led Low-Cost Containerized Missiles program, a parallel push for ground-launched affordable missiles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. Air Force is turning to cruise missiles it can buy by the thousand, cheap enough to shoot many for less than it once cost to shoot 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