The U.S. Air Pressure is in search of corporations that may supply a weapon with related or improved capabilities in comparison with the Stand-in Assault Weapon (SiAW).
The U.S. Air Pressure is now scouring the marketplace for potential sources who can provide a missile system equal to the Stand-in Assault Weapon (SiAW) in a brand new Mar. 4, 2026 sources sought discover. The SiAW is presently being procured by the service, and is within the Speedy Prototyping section of the continuing Center Tier Acquisition (MTA) program.
The discover has additionally named the F-47 Subsequent-Era Air Dominance (NGAD) and the B-21 Raider among the many plane that may make use of the weapon, ought to the service go forward with the procurement. The SiAW-equivalent missile must be an All-Up Spherical (AUR) missile together with the “{hardware} and software program, in addition to any distinctive logistics parts, trainers, SiAW flyout mannequin, and all system verification parts.”
It’s unclear whether or not this means the continuing growth by Northrop Grumman has been delayed, or the discover has been influenced by a urgent want for such functionality. A protected assumption can be an try by the service to hurry up the introduction of the brand new functionality in massive numbers with a decreased timeline, reflecting related efforts to extend the manufacturing of different weapons already in service.
We accomplished a separation take a look at of the Stand-In Assault Weapon from an F-16 with the @usairforce ! This milestone highlights SiAW’s flight security, aerodynamic efficiency and progress towards integrating with fifth-generation platforms just like the F-35. Learn extra:… pic.twitter.com/jtwWgBwsY3
— Northrop Grumman (@NGCNews) December 11, 2025
The present SiAW program is already in its Section 2, with Northrop Grumman saying in December 2025 a brand new separation take a look at from an F-16 Combating Falcon, inside simply over a 12 months of its first inert drop. Beside the F-16, different future launching platforms embody the F-35A Lightning II, which can carry it internally, the F-15E Strike Eagle, F-15EX Eagle II, and B-21 Raider.
Northrop Grumman was awarded the $705 million contract to develop the missile in 2023, with a 36-month timeline for finishing the event, integration, and testing. The purpose was to realize a 2026 Preliminary Operational Functionality (IOC).
New sources sought discover
The supply sought has a brief deadline, set for Mar. 19, and seeks a weapon providing “related or improved capabilities in comparison with the SiAW” to “suppress and neutralize enemy air defenses in contested environments.” The trouble focuses on “prolonged vary, superior focusing on, counter-countermeasures, and integration with current and future platforms.”
The discover lists prolonged standoff vary as the first functionality, with different capabilities similar to:
Superior anti-radiation seeker with broad frequency protection;
Means to focus on trendy and superior radar programs, together with frequency-agile and low-probability-of-intercept (LPI) emitters;
Means to focus on trendy ballistic threats, and different non-cooperative targets;
Precision navigation and steerage system (e.g., GPS/INS with anti-jamming capabilities);
Potential for pre-emptive focusing on capabilities;
Means to re-attack;
Sturdy Digital Counter-Countermeasures (ECCM) to defeat enemy countermeasures, together with chaff, flares, and jamming.
This might probably up an avenue for Lockheed Martin’s Mako hypersonic missile, which the corporate had developed for the SiAW venture, though it later selected to not proceed with that contract’s successive phases. Lockheed markets Mako as a mass-producible, cost-effective, and excessive efficiency weapon which might be carried internally by the F-35A and C, and externally by the F-35B, beside a variety of fourth era fighters.
The SiAW program
The SiAW program started in 2022 with contracts awarded to Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and L3Harris, adopted by two contracts in 2023 to Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman for the ultimate stage of this system’s Section 1. The Section 2 growth is a continuation of the Air Pressure requirement for this first-of-its-kind Center Tier Acquisition massive weapon program, developed by way of digital engineering and integrating Weapon Open System Structure.
Section 2 is break up in two: Section 2.1 concludes with a guided automobile flight take a look at, whereas Section 2.2 wraps up with three extra flight exams and the supply of SiAW leave-behind prototype missiles and take a look at belongings. Following Section 2.2, this system is predicted to maneuver to the acquisition section and be fielded on the F-35A Lightning II and presumably on the B-21 Raider stealth bomber.
The Air Pressure is hoping to realize an Preliminary Operational Functionality (IOC) by 2026 and purchase 400 missile items by 2028, adopted by round 3,000 extra weapons within the subsequent years. The AGM-88G Superior Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM-ER) will function an interim functionality, whereas additionally having influenced and knowledgeable the SiAW itself.
The AARGM-ER is an development over the AGM-88E AARGM, the newest variant of the AGM-88 Excessive-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM). The weapon makes use of the AGM-88E’s management and steerage sections, with a brand new warhead and rocket motor, bettering the effectivity when participating enemy air defenses, even after they flip off their radars.
Anticipated capabilities
The SiAW, whereas additionally designed to trace electromagnetic emissions, goes a lot past a radar-killing Suppression/Destruction of Enemy Air Protection (SEAD/DEAD) weapon. In actual fact, it’s meant to be employed towards a greater diversity of floor targets related to anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) environments, together with ballistic missiles, missile defenses, anti-ship launchers, strategic command and management facilities, massive logistical nodes, anti-satellite programs and different high-value targets.
The SiAW is predicted to be sooner than each the present AGM-88 HARM and future AARGM-ER and with a higher, but unspecified, vary. The weapon can be anticipated to have a number of sensors and high-resolution GPS steerage, along with open structure interfaces.
