Air Force Wants New 1,000-Nautical Mile Range Missile for Air, Sea Targets

The Air Force wants a family of next-generation long-range missiles to strike targets out to ranges of at least 1,000 nautical miles to support the service’s plans to counter Chinese air and naval forces in a potential conflict. The Air Force Long Range Weapon program plans to field air-to-air and air-to-surface variants to meet Pentagon priorities from China-focused near peer defense planning scenarios, according to an industry day notice released on Wednesday. Both variants should have a minimum range of 1,000 nautical miles to strike “priority air, land and sea targets far and fast.” The release did not specify from