The Navy last week released a request for information for a congressionally mandated, nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile.
The Navy published the request for information Nov. 15, seeking interest and resources to support the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N) all up round program. Responses are due by Dec. 9. The missile will be deployed on Virginia-class submarines, the notice said.
The technology proposed for the SLCM-N flight systems must reach their initial operational capability by fiscal year 2034 and prototypes are required within three years, according to the request for information.
The notice said the service hopes to leverage mature technology, existing capabilities and new techniques and approaches to reduce the program’s development time and costs.
The fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act required the National Nuclear Security Administration to develop the warhead for the Navy’s SLCM-N missile, mandated in the same bill. President Joe Biden’s (D) administration repeatedly asked Congress to kill SLCM-N, but lawmakers declined to do so.
Congress told the NNSA that the SLCM-N warhead should be a variant of the W80-4 air-launched cruise missile warhead that the agency is already working on. This summer, NNSA Administrator Jill Hruby said the agency was also looking at other possible warhead fits.
A version of this story first appeared in Exchange Monitor affiliate publication Defense Daily.
