According to the website of the US Department of Defense on September 3 and September 1, 2021, as well as the website of Aviation Week and Space Technology on September 1, 2021, the Future Hypersonic Office of the US Air Force located at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida has awarded contracts to Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon for the South Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (SCIFiRE) air breathing hypersonic missile project to complete the initial project review for the first phase of the project. Among them, the total contract amount of Boeing is 39.66 million US dollars, Lockheed Martin is 27.19 million US dollars, and Raytheon is 27.99 million US dollars. These three contracts are revisions to the contracts awarded by the US Air Force in June 2021, increasing the cumulative contract amounts of Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon to 47.15 million, 33.5 million, and 33.7 million US dollars, respectively.

The SCIFiRE project is expected to be designed based on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) "Air Breathing Hypersonic Weapon Concept" (HAWC) project, completing preliminary design reviews and laying a technical foundation for the subsequent "Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile" (HACM) project. The aforementioned contract requires the contractor to further develop solid rocket boosters and air breathing hypersonic cruise missiles, which can be launched from active fighter jets and bombers. According to a document submitted by the US Air Force to the Senate Armed Services Committee, the SCIFiRE cruise missile program is scheduled to conduct flight tests in fiscal year 2024. Australia is a partner of the SCIFiRE project. The Royal Australian Air Force stated that SCIFiRE is a Mach 5 precision strike missile equipped with an air breathing scramjet engine, with potential use in the country's F/A-18F fighter, EA-18G electronic warfare aircraft, F-35A fighter, and P-8A maritime patrol aircraft.

On August 30, 2021, the website of Aviation Week and Space Technology reported that the US Navy Air Systems Command released a cross agency notice on August 18, revealing for the first time the term "Long Range Anti Ship Missile" (LRASM) AGM-158C-2 strike capability "to the outside world, and stating that the missile will be the first air launched land attack cruise missile of the US Navy since the AGM-84K Extended Range Exodefense Land Attack Missile" (SLAM-ER).

The AGM-158C-2 is based on the AGM-158C missile, which is the anti-ship type of the US Air Force's AGM-158B Extended Range Joint Air Ground Defense Area Missile (JASSM-ER). It is mainly equipped with US Navy F/A-18E/F carrier based fighters and US Air Force B-1B bombers. Compared to AGM-158B, AGM-158C is equipped with a new type of RF sensor for aiming at moving targets at sea, and a black anti-corrosion coating is also applied to the projectile body. At present, the US Navy has not publicly disclosed the relevant details of AGM-158C-2, only stating that the missile is a naval version of AGM-158B.

It is worth noting that after the service of AGM-158B, the US Air Force was equipped with an improved AGM-158B-2, which was equipped with redesigned wings, greatly extending its range, and also equipped with a weapon data link developed by Lockheed Martin for the original AGM-158D "Long Range Joint Air Ground Defense Missile" (JASSM-XR). It is currently unclear which type of AGM-158C-2 is specifically designed based on AGM-158B. In addition, the US Navy has applied for a total of $1.8 million in the 2022 fiscal year budget for the AGM-158C-2 missile software C++programming project. At the same time, Lockheed Martin also released a job advertisement seeking software engineers proficient in C++language to replace the US Defense Department's Ada language that has been used by the AGM-158 series missiles. The use of C++language will make batch upgrades of AGM-158 series missiles more convenient. At present, the US military is testing containerized software updates for missiles and combat aircraft during flight. During the experiment, it was found that C++language is more friendly than Ada language and can better meet the needs of the open-source cloud tool "Kubernetes".

Cruise missiles have long received strong support from US defense planners, such as the US Air Force developing the AGM-181A "Long Range Out of Defense" (LRSO) air launched nuclear cruise missile, and the US Navy planning to launch the "Sea based Nuclear Cruise Missile" (SLCM). In terms of conventional weapons, the US Air Force is developing the "Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile" (HACM), while the US Navy is seeking to develop hypersonic anti-ship missiles in the "Offensive Anti Surface Warfare" Increment 2 program. The cross layout announcement released this time indicates that the US Navy is actively implementing the relevant resolutions of the 2022 fiscal year budget document, which is to purchase AGM-158 series missiles as a replacement after the cancellation of the turbojet powered AGM-154 "Joint Exogenous Weapon" (JSOW).

For decades, the US Department of Defense has been very interested in cruise missiles that are reasonably priced, have stealth capabilities, and long-range strike capabilities, but has never been able to form a model parallel installation. In the mid-1990s, the US Department of Defense cancelled the joint development of the AGM-137 "Tri Service Common Defense Area Attack Missile" (TSSAM) project by the US Air Force, Navy, and Army. Afterwards, the US Air Force and Navy launched the JASSM project in the late 1990s, but their cooperative relationship did not last long. In 2004, the US Navy decided to withdraw from the JASSM project without a direct replacement project. Years later, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the US Department of Defense demonstrated the feasibility of the anti-ship JASSM in the Offensive Anti Surface Warfare (OASuW) program. Therefore, in 2014, the US Navy launched the "Offensive Anti Surface Warfare" Increment 1 program, aimed at developing a subsonic stealth anti-ship missile, and ultimately deployed the initial operational capability version of LRASM five years later.

Source: Aerospace Defense Observation