The conferenced fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) turns back a proposal by the Senate to accelerate the U.S. Air Force AGM-181 Long Range Standoff (LRSO) nuclear cruise missile under development by RTX’s Raytheon.
The Senate bill recommended $756 million for LRSO – $149 million more than requested by the Air Force – including $141 million to accelerate the program and $8 million for “conventional variant advance planning.”
The House-Senate agreement nixes the $141 million but provides about $3.3 million for the AGM-181 “conventional variant advance planning.”
The Air Force has said that it wants LRSO to be operational in the early 2030s.
The B-52H bomber is to get a new rotary launcher for LRSO, and eventually the Air Force wants LRSO to fly aboard the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider stealth bomber. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is refurbishing the W80-4 warhead through a life extension program to tip the LRSO.
B-52Hs with the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base (AFB), La. are to be the first to carry LRSO. Fielding of the 1,087 LRSOs planned may see delays because of simultaneous B-52H modernization efforts–the Commercial Engine Replacement Program (CERP) to replace the plane’s eight Pratt & Whitney TF33-PW-103 engines with more powerful Rolls-Royce F130s and the Radar Modernization Program to replace the bomber’s Northrop Grumman APQ-166 with an active electronically scanned array radar based on RTX’s APG-79.
While the Air Force has said that the B-52H CERP and RMP modernization take precedence, the service has eyed LRSO initial fielding on the B-52H over the next five years.
The fiscal 2026 House-Senate NDAA contains a Senate proposal “to require the secretary of the Air Force to ensure that the B-21 bomber is operationally certified to employ nuclear gravity bombs not later than 180 days after the date on which the B-21 achieves initial operational capability.”
The provision adds the Air Force secretary must “employ the AGM-181 Long Range Standoff Weapon not later than two years after the date on which either the B-21 bomber or the AGM-181 Long Range Standoff Weapon achieves initial operational capability, whichever is later.”
Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily first published a version of this story.