WASHINGTON, 07 July 2021, (TON): Raytheon will get up to $2 billion to develop the Air Force’s Long Range Standoff Weapon system, a new nuclear-capable air launched cruise missile that will be carried by B-52 and B-21 bombers.

The service on July 1 awarded Raytheon a cost-plus-fixed-fee deal for the engineering and manufacturing development stage of the LRSO program, with contract options that max out at about $2 billion.

The contract announcement stated “during the EMD stage of the program, Raytheon will continue to mature its LRSO design and prepare for full-rate production of the weapon in 2027.”

LRSO is slated to replace the AGM-86B Air Launched Cruise Missile, which was designed in the 1970s. Air Force officials have argued that the legacy ALCM has become more difficult to maintain as its supply base becomes obsolete, and its effectiveness gets increasingly compromised as adversaries field more sophisticated air defense systems.

The Air Fo-rce could buy more than 1,-000 LRSO missiles, which are projected to have a range in excess of 1,500 miles.