Overview
- The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center issued a Request for Information this month asking industry for concepts and data on a ground-based launcher, with responses due in early August and no purchase commitment attached.
- The service wants one transportable launcher that can engage Unmanned Aircraft Systems across Groups 1–5 as well as cruise missiles, meaning a single system must cover threats from small commercial quadcopters up to large, long-endurance UAVs and faster, airplane-like cruise weapons.
- The RFI lists 11 critical attributes vendors must address, including munition type, integrated sensors, a laser illuminator, total firing rate, magazine depth, command-and-control integration, cost per system, transportability, manpower needs, built-in diagnostics, and the weapon architecture itself.
- The request responds to battlefield lessons from Ukraine and the Middle East showing attackers mix cheap kamikaze drones with cruise missiles to overwhelm defenses and drain expensive interceptors, leaving forward bases vulnerable to damage and asset loss.
- Officials say the RFI is market research to test technical and cost feasibility, inform how such systems would integrate with base command-and-control, and help decide whether the Air Force should field organic ground defenses and change roles, training, and force structure for base protection.