Lockheed Martin Corporation has unveiled a modular airframe architecture for its AGM-158 cruise missile family, enabling a single core missile design to be launched from air, surface, sub-surface, and ground platforms.

Announced on September 15, 2026, the AGM-158 FLEX airframe utilizes interchangeable nose cones and boat tails to adapt the weapon for different mission profiles. According to a company press release, the design provides military operators with a scalable method to upgrade capabilities and avoid subcomponent obsolescence without requiring separate integration programs for new configurations.

Engineering the FLEX architecture

The FLEX concept centers on standardizing the central fuselage of the missile while allowing the front and rear sections to be swapped based on the launch platform and mission requirements. Lockheed Martin invested $35 million to design and qualify the FLEX airframe concept, a process that included concept development, testing, and prototype production.

The interchangeable nose cones will house the specific sensor suites required for different variants, including the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM). The removable boat tail section allows the weapon to transition from its traditional air-launched configuration to surface, sub-surface, and ground launch setups.

“We recognized a demand from our customers to have increased options to support their evolving strategic defense and mission needs,” Lockheed Martin stated in the release. “We know no problem or threat exists in a vacuum, and so we innovate with intent, keeping integration in mind and ensuring that our solutions aren’t just new, they’re immediately useful.”

The architecture will support multiple missile lengths depending on the required range and payload:

• 168 inches: The standard extended range option, consistent with the dimensions of the JASSM-ER.
• 206 inches: The extreme range option, designed to support the JASSM-XR configuration.

Manufacturing capacity and defense investment

The introduction of the FLEX airframe aligns with broader efforts by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to increase long-range precision strike capacity. The JASSM-XR variant, which features a 1,000-pound warhead and extreme standoff range, will be the first weapon configuration to utilize the new FLEX architecture.

To support the production of the AGM-158 family at scale, Lockheed Martin opened a 225,000-square-foot intelligent production facility in 2022. The factory incorporates dynamic model forecasting and a fully robotic paint line. The company noted that the modular nature of the FLEX airframe will directly benefit these manufacturing operations.

“The FLEX airframe will provide a modular airframe that gets ahead of subcomponent obsolescence, provides future capability enhancements to outpace threats and enable scalability at the production factory,” the company stated.

The push for scalability follows a $3.2 billion Undefinitized Contract Action awarded to Lockheed Martin in 2024 by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy, aimed at significantly increasing the production capacity for both JASSM and LRASM.

AirPro News analysis

The transition to a modular airframe for the AGM-158 family represents a critical shift in munitions procurement for the DoD. By standardizing the core airframe across air, land, and sea domains, we expect the military to realize substantial logistical efficiencies. Historically, adapting an air-launched cruise missile for a vertical launching system on a surface ship or a submarine torpedo tube required extensive, bespoke engineering efforts that drove up costs and extended development timelines.

The FLEX architecture bypasses this bottleneck. With the JASSM-XR serving as the launch platform for the FLEX design, Lockheed Martin is positioning the AGM-158 family to meet the immediate demand for extreme standoff ranges. This modularity also simplifies the supply chain, allowing the 2022 production facility to churn out a single core airframe that can be customized at the final assembly stage or retrofitted as operational needs dictate.

Sources: Lockheed Martin

Swarm Aero unveiled the Gamera, a new Group 5 uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) designed for persistent strike and sensing, at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, on September 14, 2026.

The aircraft is positioned as a mass-producible successor to the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) MQ-9A Reaper. The announcement aligns with the July 2026 launch of the Massed Modular Aircraft (MMA) program by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), which seeks risk-tolerant platforms capable of carrying heavy payloads over intercontinental distances.

Design philosophy and aircraft specifications

According to a company press release, Swarm Aero designed the Gamera to deliver bomber-class strike munitions at a fraction of the cost of legacy platforms. The company claims a tenfold reduction in cost-per-effect compared to existing systems, though an exact unit price has not been publicly disclosed. For context, a single MQ-9A Reaper costs in excess of $30 million.

Swarm Aero Chief Revenue Officer and co-founder Oliver Palmer stated that the company inverted conventional wisdom regarding air power platform design. Speaking to Breaking Defense, Palmer explained the engineering approach.

“What we’ve done cuts against the conventional wisdom, which is that to deliver payload from a long range against critical targets, that you want to wrap that in stealth and wrap that in all sorts of protections. And what we’ve done instead is create a very simple, non-stealthy aircraft that’s optimized for extreme range.”

The Gamera UAS features the following published specifications:

• Wingspan: 72 feet
• Unrefueled range: 9,000 nautical miles
• Payload capacity: 2,800+ pounds
• Hardpoints: 7 available store locations
• Powerplant: Honeywell TPE331 turboprop engine
• Software: Legion command-and-control (C2) architecture

Addressing fleet attrition and the MMA program

The push for cheaper, mass-producible drones follows high attrition rates of legacy platforms. According to reporting by Aviation International News, the USAF has lost 45 MQ-9A Reapers during the ongoing military conflict with Iran, representing approximately 25 percent of the active fleet.

To address these losses and prepare for future operational needs, the DIU set a target to field 20 new mission-ready drones under the MMA program by fiscal year 2031. The program requires a minimum payload of 2,800 pounds and a range of 8,000 nautical miles. Swarm Aero will face competition in this category, notably from GA-ASI, which recently unveiled its own MQ-9A alternative called the Wildfire, designed to carry four AGM-184 Joint Strike Missiles.

Swarm Aero executives emphasized the strategic necessity of moving away from exquisite, low-volume aircraft. Palmer noted that the People’s Liberation Army has built asymmetric ways to challenge legacy U.S. force structures, requiring a departure from incremental improvements to deter coercion of allied partners. Swarm Aero CEO and co-founder Peter Kalogiannis added that the company possesses the technical expertise required to volume-produce military aircraft and deliver the Gamera at scale.

AirPro News analysis

The unveiling of the Gamera highlights a definitive pivot in USAF procurement strategy. For two decades, the MQ-9A Reaper dominated the medium-altitude, long-endurance mission set in permissive airspace. The loss of 45 Reapers in the Iran conflict has forced a reckoning regarding the viability of deploying $30 million assets in contested environments. We view the MMA program as a critical test of the Department of Defense’s ability to acquire attritable mass.

Swarm Aero’s decision to abandon stealth in favor of extreme range and payload capacity reflects a pragmatic approach to the Pacific theater, where distance is the primary operational constraint. However, the company’s claim of a tenfold cost reduction will face intense scrutiny as the Gamera moves from prototype to production. Meeting the DIU’s 2031 fielding deadline will require Swarm Aero to rapidly scale manufacturing capabilities while competing against established prime contractors like GA-ASI.

Sources: Swarm Aero via GlobeNewswire

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) and Tactical Air Support, Inc. successfully fused passive sensor data between a manned fighter and an unmanned test aircraft to track and engage airborne targets during a July 21, 2026, large force exercise.

In a press release issued on September 15, 2026, GA-ASI confirmed the flight test demonstrated Infrared Search and Track (IRST) Multi-Ship Ranging (MSR). The exercise proved that platforms built by different companies can share targeting data using government-standard open architectures, directly supporting U.S. Air Force (USAF) efforts to eliminate proprietary vendor lock in future autonomous fleets.

Validating open architecture for Collaborative Combat Aircraft

The July 21 Test-Flights paired a manned F-5 Advanced Tiger, operated by Tactical Air Support, with an unmanned Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) test aircraft developed by GA-ASI. Both aircraft were equipped with GA-ASI’s TacACE® software, a Tactical Autonomy Ecosystem designed to comply with emerging military software standards.

The test directly applied the Agile Mission Suite Government Reference Architecture (AMS-GRA) and the Autonomy Government Reference Architecture (A-GRA). The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) publicly released these standards on July 28, 2026, to establish a modular, open-systems approach for acquiring and upgrading weapon systems. Throughout 2026, the USAF has actively validated the A-GRA standard across multiple vendor platforms to ensure mission Software can be decoupled from specific vehicle hardware.

By utilizing these government reference architectures, the GA-ASI and Tactical Air Support platforms successfully communicated and shared sensor data without relying on a single manufacturer’s proprietary network.

“With this flight, we moved beyond simply flying an autonomous jet and showed how a manned fighter and an autonomous CCA can work together to find, track, and engage a target using passive sensors and shared autonomy,” said Michael Roberts, Advanced Programs Emerging Technology Director at GA-ASI.

Passive sensing and Beyond Line of Sight integration

The exercise focused on closing the kill chain against airborne adversaries using passive sensors, which allow aircraft to detect and track targets without emitting Radar-Systems that could reveal their own positions. The IRST MSR capability enabled the manned F-5 and the unmanned CCA to triangulate target data collaboratively.

To achieve this, the aircraft utilized a Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) data link, ensuring the platforms could maintain human-machine teaming and share high-fidelity targeting information over extended distances.

Roberts noted that the successful integration of these systems marks a critical step in the development of the CCA program. “This is the kind of operationally relevant mission that will allow autonomous CCAs to deploy alongside manned aircraft and deliver real combat capability for the warfighter,” Roberts said. He added that the flight test confirms the CCA solution’s readiness for production.

AirPro News analysis

The successful demonstration of IRST Multi-Ship Ranging between a manned F-5 and an unmanned CCA test aircraft highlights a pivotal shift in defense procurement and operational tactics. By proving that platforms from different Manufacturers can seamlessly fuse sensor data using the A-GRA and AMS-GRA standards, the industry is moving closer to the USAF’s vision of a highly modular, interchangeable autonomous fleet.

For decades, military aviation has been constrained by vendor lock, where purchasing a specific aircraft meant committing to that manufacturer’s proprietary software and communication links. The July 21 exercise demonstrates that decoupling the Automation software from the air vehicle hardware is not just a theoretical acquisition strategy, but a functional operational reality. As the USAF continues to refine its CCA requirements, the ability to integrate passive sensors across disparate platforms via government-owned architectures will likely become a baseline requirement for future defense contracts, fostering a more competitive and agile industrial base.

Sources: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.