US Air Force requests nearly $1bn to develop nuclear stealth cruise missile with a range of more than 2,400km for B-21 Raider and B-52 Stratofortress bombers

The US Air Force continues to develop an advanced nuclear-powered cruise missile under the Long-Range Stand-Off (LRSO) programme. The service has requested $911 million for fiscal year 2024 to develop the project.

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The developer of the nuclear missile is Raytheon. The project was launched in 2015. The company signed a $2bn contract in 2021. LRSO will replace the AGM-86B Air Launched Cruise Missile (pictured below), which was developed about five years ago.

The goal of the program is to create a cruise missile that will be able to penetrate modern enemy air defenses. The range of LRSO should not be inferior to AGM-86B ALCM, i.e. will be at least 2400 km.

The US Air Force wants to get more than a thousand nuclear cruise missiles. The LRSO will be carried by B-52H Stratofortress and B-21 Raider strategic bombers. Production is expected to start in 2027.

The LRSO will be the first stealth cruise missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead since the AGM-129 Advanced Cruise Missile (video below). The latter was decommissioned in 2012.