secretary of defense for research and
engineering, circulated an artist’s
impression of a USAF F-22 launching a
hypothetical LREW.
The missile in the image features two
stages — a warhead and sensor up front
and a rocket booster in the back. In the
artwork, the F-22’s main weapons bay
— the one designed to accommodate
the 12ft-long AIM-120 — is open.
By implication, the LREW can be no
longer than 12ft and still be compatible
with the F-22.
Of course, it’s possible to t a range
of di erent boosters to a two-stage
weapon. Industry could design LREW
with a variety of front and back ends
to produce di erent versions of the
weapons with di erent seekers and
ranges. For example, F-15s could carry
larger and longer-range LREWs externally,
while F-22s and F-35s stick with smaller,
shorter-range versions of the weapon
that t inside their bays.
A modular, long-range weapon would
t within the US military’s emergingconcept for aerial warfare. The Air
Force has developed tactics for
combined formations of F-22s and
F-15s, where a few stealthy F-22s y
ahead and designate targets for larger
numbers of non-stealthy F-15s hauling
heavy missile loads.
Likewise, the Pentagon’s Strategic
Capabilities O ce is working on an
‘arsenal plane’ that could y behind
a screen of stealth ghters and lob
missiles at long range. O cials have
mentioned B-1 and B-52 bombers as
possible arsenal-plane candidates.
With their large payloads, a handful
of bombers could bring potentially
hundreds of LREWs to an aerial battle.
It’s unclear whether — and how fast
— industry might take up the LREW
concept and begin to actually build
missiles. China reportedly
conducted the rst
test-launch of its own
new, long-range
air-to-air missile in
late 2016.‘The Air Force has developed tactics
for combined formations of F-22s
and F-15s, where a few stealthy
F-22s y ahead and designate targets
for larger numbers of non-stealthy
F-15s hauling heavy missile loads’
A Department of Defense artist’s impression of a
hypothetical new long-range AAM shows an F-22
launching a two-stage missile from its main weapons
bay. US DoDUS DEVELOPING A NEW
LONG-RANGE AIR-TO-AIR MISSILE
T
HE US MILITARY has
been quietly working
on a new long-range
air-to-air missile since
at least 2016, budget
documents reveal.
The O ce of the Secretary of Defense
spent nearly $10 million in 2016
and 2017 developing concepts and
technologies for the so-called Long-
Range Engagement Weapon (LREW).
‘This project will complete the
engineering and design work
required to assess a multi-role, long-
range interceptor for maintaining air
dominance’, according to the military’s
2018 budget proposal. ‘Details of this
project are classi ed.’
Users of the online Secret Projects
forum rst noticed the LREW line item
buried deep inside the nearly thousand-
page budget. The new munition’s
emergence after at least two years of
development helps to explain a long-
standing gap in US military capabilities.
Russia and China are both developing
air-to-air missiles with ranges in excess
of 100 miles. The United States, by
contrast, still relies on versions of the
1980s-vintage AIM-120 AMRAAM that
reportedly can y around 90 miles,
at best. The US Navy’s F-14 Tomcats
carried very-long-range AIM-54
Phoenix missiles, but those ghters
and their special weapons retired in the
early 2000s.
The Pentagon hopes to apply its work
on LREW to a formal acquisition program
that could produce a common munition
for the US Air Force, Navy and Marine
Corps. ‘LREW will complete systems
design, engineering and kill-chain
investigations in FY 2017’, the budget
explains. ‘When successful, LREW will
transition to multiple services.’
The military didn’t request any money
for LREW for 2018.
It’s unclear what technologies and
concepts researchers have developed
for the new missile. But there are some
hints. In April 2017, Chuck Perkins,
the principal deputy to the assistantJanuary 201894
DISPATCHES FROM THE FRONT LINE OF AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY
BY
DAVID
AXE94 Cutting Edge C.indd 94 23/11/2017 11:57