The US Air Force has unveiled the first official image of its AGM-181 Long-Range Standoff (LRSO) missile, a nuclear-capable cruise weapon set to be deployed on both the next-gen B-21 Raider and the veteran B-52 Stratofortress aircraft.
Raytheon is leading development under a $2-billion contract awarded in 2021, replacing the aging AGM-86B from the Cold War era. Most program specifics remain highly classified.
Projected in 2022 to cost over $16 billion, the LRSO program includes an additional $7 billion in lifecycle support, with each missile estimated at $14 million, per Air and Space Forces.
