General Atomics will promote a joint cruise missile with Rafael for the United States

The American defense company General Atomics has signed a memorandum on the joint production of a new cruise missile with Israel’s Rafael.

This is reported on the official website of General Atomics.

According to the signed memorandum of understanding, the American company will become a partner in the development program of a new cruise missile from the Israeli company Rafael.

It is expected that General Atomics will be the main contractor in the United States for the production of the strike missile known as Bullseye.

“We are pleased to work with Rafael on the Bullseye, a highly effective, deep-strike missile. The Bullseye will be manufactured in the United States for delivery to U.S. military customers in support of several critical precision strike missions for the U.S. Department of Defense and coalition partners,” Scott Forney, President of GA-EMS, announced.

The missile is expected to be manufactured at General Atomics‘ facility in Tupelo, Mississippi. In addition, the Bullseye will be extensively tested in the United States and integrated into the existing weapons system of selected aircraft.

To date, the missile has already demonstrated excellent long-range target engagement capabilities. The Israeli company Rafael has already successfully tested the homing head, engine, and aerodynamics and is currently finalizing the missile’s preparation for mass production.

Additional flight tests are expected, which, if successfully completed, will allow for the start of mass production and delivery of the first missiles at the end of 2025.

Although the exact specifications of the Rafael missile have not been officially released, according to The War Zone, which received confirmation of its request, the Bullseye missile will be just under four meters long and have a wingspan of just over two meters when deployed.

The missile’s dimensions are identical to Rafael’s Israeli Ice Breaker missile.

Depending on the payload, the Bullseye will weigh approximately 450 kg and have a range of over 300 kilometers. The missile is equipped with a small jet engine and has low observable (LO) characteristics.

As for the warhead, the Bullseye missile will be available in two versions, 227 and 113 kg, respectively. Both versions will have a combined purpose – a combination of the effects of a high explosive and armor-piercing warhead.

Militarnyi previously reported that the US Air Force tested a new air-to-ground tactical missile, the SiAW (Stand-in Attack Weapon).

SiAW is based on the AARGM-ER anti-radar missile. Although the range of the new product has not been officially disclosed, it can be roughly determined by the characteristics of the anti-radar version, which is approximately 300 km.