An artist's depiction of CMMTs launched from a C-130. The USAF has been experimenting with Rapid Dragon using larger, more expensive missiles, but CMMT and its peers could allow many of the same effects at significantly lower cost. (Lockheed Martin)
Lockheed Martin has unveiled a new cruise missile, called the Common Multi-Mission Truck (CMMT), intended to be manufactured inexpensively and at scale, company officials said on 3 March at the 2025 Air & Space Force Association (AFA) Warfare Symposium.
CMMT has been under development for roughly two years using internal funding, Mike Rothstein, vice-president for strategy and requirements at Lockheed Martin's Missiles and Fire Control division, told Janes on 5 March, building on unspecified programmes initiated by the company's high-technology Skunk Works division.
The missile is designed to meet cost and specification thresholds for the US Air Force's (USAF's) Franklin programme, which seeks to develop long-range missiles that cost USD150,000 or less per round. Missiles developed through Franklin are intended to complement larger, more expensive weapons such as Lockheed Martin's AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), adding what USAF officials call ‘affordable mass' to strike missions.
The USAF is experimenting with launching a mass of munitions at once via the Rapid Dragon programme, under which missiles are stacked on pallets and rolled out of the rear cargo ramp of a transport aircraft for near-simultaneous deployment. Rothstein said that Rapid Dragon could launch as many as 25 CMMTs in one mission. The first instantiation of CMMT is also sized to fit inside the F-35's internal weapons bay.
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