Lockheed Martin plans to unveil a new “affordable” cruise missile on Monday with a cost of about US$150,000 and a range of over 500 miles (800 km) as the defence contractor works to tap a US need to deter Chinese ambitions in the Pacific.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed US and other countries’ thinking about armaments towards a new strategy known as “affordable mass”, meaning having plenty of relatively cheap weapons at the ready.
The Common Multi-Mission Truck (CMMT) missile concept is a new product that aims to develop a family of low-cost modular weapons from Lockheed and its partners’ existing catalog of components.
The CMMT missile is designed to fill a gap between lower-cost standoff glide weapons and more expensive cruise missiles said Scott Callaway, director of Affordable Mass, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, in a recent interview with Reuters.
If the Pentagon decides to buy the new offering, Callaway said Lockheed could make 2,500 a year – once a production line was running.
CMMT is “a subsonic, low-cost, long-range cruise missile”, Callaway said. Its low-cost turbine engines cannot, however, compete with cruise missiles such as Lockheed’s AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile.
