Lockheed eyes Air Force test of extreme-range missile by year's end

Colin Demarest

The AGM-158 Extreme Range missile. Photo: Courtesy of Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin plans to flight test an in-development, extreme-range cruise missile with the U.S. Air Force by the end of the year.

The big picture: Lockheed first teased the AGM-158 XR in late 2024. The world's largest defense contractor by revenue now says it's part of a bigger push into customizability.

"We're going to evolve that platform, AGM-158, into more of a modular system," Tim Cahill, Lockheed's missiles and fire control president, told Axios on the sidelines of ReIndustrialize in Detroit.

"That's going to allow it to quickly be configured to different lengths and, ultimately, to carry different payloads."

Context: The XR was initially advertised as carrying a 1,000-pound warhead and sporting compatibility with the same platforms as Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff and Long Range Anti-Ship missiles.

The bottom line: Customers, Cahill said, "are clearly interested."

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Lockheed eyes Air Force test of extreme-range missile by year's end

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