Overview
- The Air Force posted a formal solicitation in late June that sets a minimum range of 1,000 nautical miles for the new Air Force Long Range Weapon and specifies both air‑to‑air and air‑to‑surface variants.
- The service will hold a classified two‑day Industry Day at Eglin AFB on Aug. 25–26 and requires industry to register intent by July 24 before planned one‑on‑one meetings in October and November.
- The notice asks for two solution types in priority order—a vertically integrated all‑up‑round and a weapon‑system integrator model—and demands compliance with the Weapons Open Systems Architecture and Government Reference Architecture.
- Key technical details remain undecided or classified, including propulsion, speed, exact guidance and whether the weapon will fit internal fighter bays, so the program signals heavy reliance on distributed sensors and networks to solve long‑range targeting limits like the radar horizon.
- The effort is framed as a conventional capability distinct from the nuclear LRSO program and reflects wider U.S. moves to extend strike ranges across the Pacific, raising questions about cost, production scale, and how new sensors or satellites will be funded and fielded.