(Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin Corp and Raytheon Co separate $900 million contracts to continue work on a replacement for the AGM-86B air-launched nuclear cruise missile, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

Lockheed Martin's logo is seen during Japan Aerospace 2016 air show in Tokyo, Japan, October 12, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Although the award for the new Long Range Standoff weapon (LRSO) comes amid rising tensions with North Korea, the Air Force had asked the defense industry last summer for proposals to replace the aging nuclear cruise missiles and intercontinental ballistic missile system as the military moved ahead with a costly modernization of its aging atomic weapons systems.

“This weapon will modernize the air-based leg of the nuclear triad,” said Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson in a statement.

LRSO, which is a plane launched weapon, “will be capable of penetrating and surviving advanced integrated air defense systems from significant standoff range” Lockheed Martin said in its statement about the award.

The relatively small contract award is a milestone that allows Lockheed and Raytheon to continue parallel detailed development and prototyping for the cruise missile replacement.

For the next four and a half years, the companies will perform the technology maturation and risk reduction of the weapon. Once complete, the Air Force will choose a single contractor for engineering, manufacturing and deployment.

The Air Force plans to procure approximately 1,000 LRSO flight bodies, with development and procurement costs estimated at about $10 billion, according to an Air Force spokesperson. Only some of the bodies will be armed with nuclear weapons, the others will be used for testing or spares.

The Air Force has said it plans to start fielding LRSO by 2030.

The current cruise missile was first fielded in the early 1980s with a 10-year life.

On Monday, the Air Force awarded Boeing Co and Northrop Grumman Corp separate contracts to continue work on the replacement of the aging Minuteman III ICBM system.

Modernization of the U.S. nuclear force was expected to cost more than $350 billion over the next decade. The United States plans to replace its aging systems, including bombs, nuclear bombers, missiles and submarines. Some analysts estimated the cost at $1 trillion over 30 years.</s>Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) and Raytheon (NYSE:RTN) are awarded initial contracts of $900M each by the U.S. Air Force to begin development of a new nuclear cruise missile for long-range bombers.

The initial contracts cover a four-and-a-half year phase to refine designs and prove out technologies for the Long-Range Standoff missile; the Air Force later will pick one of the contractors for full production of as many as 1,000 missiles - not all of them topped by nuclear warheads - in an acquisition phase valued at ~$10B.

The decision is a defeat for Boeing (NYSE:BA), which in the 1980s developed and fielded the AGM-86B Air Launched Cruise Missile now in use.</s>TUCSON, Ariz. (Tribune News Service) — Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems has been awarded a $900 million contract to develop the nation’s next-generation air-launched nuclear cruise missile.

Frequent competitor Lockheed Martin was awarded a similar, 54-month contract to develop design concepts and technologies for the new Long Range Standoff weapon, the Air Force said Wednesday.

When those contracts are completed, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida will select a single contractor to further develop and produce the new weapon.

The contract awards were a blow to defense and aerospace giant Boeing, which has produced the current AGM-86B Air Launched Cruise Missile since the 1980s.

Raytheon will perform work on the cruise-missile contract in Tucson, according to a Pentagon contract notice. The company already makes the Navy’s Tomahawk cruise missile and a variety of major missile systems in Tucson.

A spokesman for Raytheon declined to comment on the contract announcement.

The Air Force says the contract awards keep the program on track to replace the aging AGM-86B Air Launched Cruise Missile with modernized weapon capabilities designed for its nuclear bomber fleet, including the future B-21 strategic stealth bomber.

“This weapon will modernize the air-based leg of the nuclear triad,” Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said in the announcement. “Deterrence works if our adversaries know that we can hold at risk things they value. This weapon will enhance our ability to do so, and we must modernize it cost-effectively.”

The current Air Launched Cruise Missile was first fielded in the early 1980s with a 10-year design life, the Air Force said.

Under the contracts, Raytheon and Lockheed must develop the new missile technologies and demonstrate the reliability and maintainability of a replacement weapon, the Air Force said, noting that the aging AGM-86B “will continue to face increasingly significant operational challenges against emerging threats and reliability challenges until replaced.”

The Air Force wants to start fielding the Long Range Standoff Weapon in the late 2020s.

In May, Air Force Global Strike Command commander Gen. Robin Rand told the House Armed Services Committee’s Strategic Forces Subcommittee that the new missile will ensure the U.S. strategic bomber force “continues to hold high-value targets at risk in an evolving threat environment, including targets deep within an area-denied environment.”

Raytheon has a long history of developing cruise missiles, which generally fly low to avoid radar. The new missile is expected to have additional radar-evading “stealth” characteristics, though full requirements remain classified.

The company recently marked its 4,000th delivery to the Navy of the latest-generation Tomahawk Block IV cruise missile. The Tomahawk is carried aboard about 140 warships and submarines and has been fired more than 2,300 times in combat, including recent strikes in Syria and Yemen.

Raytheon inherited another nuclear cruise missile program in 1997 when it acquired the aerospace and defense business of Hughes Aircraft Corp., including the AGM-129 Advanced Cruise Missile.

The low-observable, or “stealthy” air-launched cruise missile was originally designed and built by General Dynamics and was carried by the Air Force’s B-52H Stratofortress bombers. But production was cut back starting in 1993 and the AGM-129 was phased out of service by 2012.

For its part, Lockheed Martin makes the conventionally armed AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, a stealthy, air-launched cruise missile fitted on a variety of U.S. bombers and fighters.

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 Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.</s>Law360, Nashville (August 24, 2017, 7:04 PM EDT) -- The U.S. Air Force announced late Wednesday it had awarded a pair of $900 million deals to Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co. to help develop its new nuclear cruise missile, putting them in competition for a final production contract.



Lockheed and Raytheon were both awarded roughly $900 million deals to support the technology maturation and risk reduction phase for the long-range standoff weapon, or LRSO, the intended replacement for the AGM-86B air-launched cruise missile, or ALCM, the Air Force said Wednesday.



Work on each of...

To view the full article, register now.</s>The U.S. Air Force moved forward Wednesday with a program to extend the U.S. arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles, when it awarded Lockheed Martin and Raytheon separate $900 million contracts to start work on a cruise missile that is meant to be fired from a B-52 or B-2 bomber.

The missile, called the Long Range Standoff weapon, is to replace the aging AGM-86B cruise missile, an older weapons system that was built by Boeing.

"This weapon will modernize the air-based leg of the nuclear triad," Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said in a statement. "Deterrence works if our adversaries know that we can hold at risk things they value. This weapon will enhance our ability to do so, and we must modernize it cost-effectively."

Each company will have an estimated 4½ years to develop an updated version of the missile before a single company is selected to manage the program.

The United States is in the process of drawing down its stock of nuclear warheads under the terms of international nonproliferation agreements. In the meantime the Pentagon is working to update its capability to quickly and accurately deliver those weapons should the need ever arise.

Some see the missile as destabilizing and unnecessary. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., pressed Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on the issue during an appropriations hearing.

"It's got features which concern me greatly," Feinstein said. "I don't see it as an effective deterrent weapon. I see Russia taking action to counter it."

The award comes just days after the Air Force moved to reoutfit the Pentagon's ground-based missiles, when it issued two development contracts for a missile called the ground-based strategic deterrent.

Both are meant to update the country's ability to quickly deliver nuclear weapons, a set of capabilities that officials admit is badly in need of repair.</s>Nuclear Missiles Are Intended to Be Launched From US Warplanes

While railing at other countries like North Korea for developing nuclear-capable missiles, the Pentagon has awarded contracts to two major arms makers, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, to begin preliminary work on nuclear cruise missiles

The Long Range Standoff missiles, or LRSO, are designed to be fired from US warplanes, and are meant to replace the AGM-86B missiles developed in the early 1980s. These new LRSO missiles are slated to start being used in the field in the 2020s.

The LRSO appears to primarily be an upgrade in range, as the older missiles were designed to be much shorter range. Like the AGM-86B, they are designed to fly at low altitude to limit the ability of missile defenses to stop them from nuking targets.

The Pentagon as sought to delay the contracts on the LRSO, citing a lack of immediate need for such weapons, though the House Armed Services Committee has been pressuring them to move forward with development.
• US Has Thousands More Troops in Afghanistan Than Official Figure - August 23rd, 2017</s>Lockheed Martin will develop missiles for the U.S. Air Force’s nuclear bomber fleet after the agency awarded the company and Raytheon separate $900 million contracts on Wednesday.

The new weapon will replace what the Air Force called an “aging” air-launched cruise missile which had been in use since the early 1980s.

“This weapon will modernize the air-based leg of the nuclear triad,” Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson said in a news release. “Deterrence works if our adversaries know that we can hold at risk things they value. This weapon will enhance our ability to do so and we must modernize it cost-effectively.”

The new weapon will be tasked with being able to penetrate high-tech air defense systems from a great distance.

Lockheed Martin’s Orlando-based Missiles and Fire Control will host the work, which is expected to be complete by 2022.

“Lockheed Martin’s proven experience in cruise missile and strategic systems technologies will provide the most reliable, capable, sustainable and affordable program in defense of our nation and our allies,” Lockheed’s Long Range Standoff program director David Helsel said in a separate release.

Once Lockheed and Raytheon complete the development portions of the work, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center will select a single contractor for subsequent phases, including manufacturing development, production and deployment.

The military’s air-launched cruise missiles were first used in the early 1980s and had an expected design life of 10 years, according to a release.

Updated LRSO missiles could be in use by the late 2020s.</s>Lockheed Martin may have lost out on designing America's next-generation ICBM, but the company has been selected to help replace the vintage AGM-86 Air Launched Cruise Missile. The US$900 million US Air Force Technical Maturation and Risk Reduction (TMRR) contract tasks the company with developing the technology needed to build the nuclear-capable Long Range Stand Off (LRSO) missile.

If you've ever wondered why the United States still maintains fleets of heavy bombers in an age of super sophisticated anti-aircraft defenses, part of the answer is the AGM-86. Operational since 1986, the variants of the Boeing-built cruise missile allowed the bombers to still pay a key role as a leg of the nuclear deterrent triad.

Today, bombers like the B-52 are unlikely to be able to penetrate enemy airspace to drop nuclear or conventional weapons on sites heavily defended by advanced anti-aircraft systems. But the air-launched AGM-86's compact Williams F107 turbofan jet engine, terrain-hugging radar navigation, and small radar signature allow bombers to stand off and launch cruise missiles from over 1,500 mi (2,400 km) to attack strategic targets.

The problem is that after 30 years, the basic design of the AGM-86 is obsolescent and the existing fleet's service life ends in 2020. Since this would leave the bomber force without a strategic mission, the Air Force is looking for a replacement with the LRSO program set to create a cruise missile capable of handling advanced integrated air defense systems from a significant standoff range.

According to Lockheed, the TMRR contract will focus on developing needed technologies, systems and subsystems for the new weapon system to meet the Engineering, Manufacturing, and Development milestone in 2022.

"LRSO will provide the next generation strategic deterrent missile for the air-launched portion of the nuclear triad," says David Helsel, LRSO program director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "Lockheed Martin's proven experience in cruise missile and strategic systems technologies will provide the most reliable, capable, sustainable and affordable program in defense of our nation and our allies."</s>The U.S. Air Force yesterday awarded two $900 million contracts to Lockheed Martin and Raytheon to develop a new, nuclear-armed cruise missile. The Long Range Stand Off Weapon, or LRSO, is meant to modernize the offensive punch of American bombers, keeping even older planes such as the B-52 relevant. Critics, however, argue that as older nuclear cruise missiles age out they should not be replaced, as they increase the likelihood of a misunderstanding that could lead to nuclear war.

In a statement, U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson said about LRSO, ""This weapon will modernize the air-based leg of the nuclear triad. Deterrence works if our adversaries know that we can hold at risk things they value. This weapon will enhance our ability to do so, and we must modernize it cost-effectively." "

The United States Air Force will buy 1,000 LRSOs, which will equip the B-52H Stratofortress, B-2A Spirit, and forthcoming B-21 Raider bombers. (The B-1B bomber has been designed a conventional-only bomber.) The Air Force believes the LRSO is critical to keeping the old, lumbering, non-stealthy B-52H in the country's nuclear arsenal. The B-52H currently operates the in the nuclear role, while the B-2A carries only B61 free-fall nuclear bombs. The B-21 Raider, when it comes to fruition many years from now, will probably carry everything.

The justification for nuclear cruise missiles is that in the event of a nuclear war, bombers can launch them toward distant targets without getting too close to enemy air defenses. A stealthy bomber armed with LRSOs could use them to punch its way through enemy defenses , nuking fixed anti-air missile, radar, and command-and-control sites in its path before striking the final, main target. Non-stealthy bombers such as the B-52H could stand off at a distance and kick in the door for stealthy bombers (but would be unable to accompany the B-2A and B-21 into hostile enemy territory).

On the other hand, people including former Secretary of Defense William Perry charge that nuclear-tipped cruise missiles make accidental nuclear war more likely. (His new op-ed in the Washington Post is called, "Mr. President, Kill the New Cruise Missile.") They say that non-nuclear cruise missiles, which have been used since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, are now a regular part of conventional warfare. Here's a video of Russian nuclear-capable bombers launching Kh-101 cruise missiles (which also have nuclear variants) against targets in Syria:

The existence of nuclear cruise missiles ups the stakes in a conventional war, as an adversary observing a flight of cruise missiles on his radar screens does not know whether he is about to get hit with conventional or nuclear weapons. If the adversary assumes the worst case scenario, he may believe he should launch his own nuclear weapons in response, inadvertently starting a nuclear conflict.

As reported in FlightGlobal, the $1.8 billion dollar contracts will cover the technology development phase of the missile through 2022. Between now and 2022, the two defense contractors will start nailing down the technologies necessary to bring the missile to life, demonstrate critical technology in prototypes, and complete preliminary design. (For a PowerPoint-friendly, layman-unfriendly, brain-melting guide to the defense acquisition process, see .)</s>(Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force has awarded Boeing Co and Northrop Grumman Corp separate contracts to continue work on the replacement of the aging Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, the Pentagon said on Friday.

Though the award comes amid rising tensions with North Korea, the Air Force asked the defense industry last summer for proposals to replace the Minuteman III and the nuclear cruise missile as the military moved ahead with a costly modernization of its aging atomic weapons systems.

"The Minuteman III is 45 years old. It is time to upgrade," Air Force Chief of Staff General David Goldfein said in a statement on Monday.

Northrop Grumman was awarded $328 million, and Boeing will get $349 million over the three year duration of the contract.

The relatively small award is a milestone that will allow Boeing and Northrop to continue parallel detailed development and prototyping for the Minuteman replacement. The Pentagon's office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) has said the total cost could top U.S. $85 billion. The Air Force has estimated $62 billion.

Lockheed Martin Corp, Northrop and Boeing were all competing for the contract which is needed to perform the three-year technology maturation and risk reduction (TMRR) phase of Minuteman replacement.

A Lockheed representative said the company was "disappointed" and looked "forward to a debrief about the selection."

Boeing is the incumbent on the current Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) program.

Leanne Caret, the CEO of Boeing's Defense, Space & Security business, told Reuters at the Paris Airshow this summer that she had her sights set on winning the contract for GBSD replacement.

Northrop Grumman's chief Wes Bush said, "We look forward to the opportunity to provide the nation with a modern strategic deterrent system that is secure, resilient and affordable."

Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson said "we are moving forward with modernization of the ground-based leg of the nuclear triad," in a statement on Monday.

Modernization of the U.S. nuclear force was expected to cost more than $350 billion over the next decade as the United States works to replace its aging systems, including bombs, nuclear bombers, missiles and submarines. Some analysts estimated the cost of modernization at $1 trillion over 30 years.

"Our missiles were built in the 1970s. Things just wear out, and it becomes more expensive to maintain them than to replace them," Wilson said.
The U.S. Air Force awards Raytheon and Lockheed contracts to work on the new Long Range Standoff weapon, the replacement for the AGM-86B air-launched nuclear cruise missile.