In what undoubtedly constitutes good news for the arsenals of the F-16 fighter fleets in the hands of the Ukrainian Air Force, the U.S. government last week approved a new package of up to 3,350 new low-cost ERAM missiles, which will allow the institution to carry out greater long-range strikes. According to U.S. media reports, this is an operation worth more than 850 million dollars, which would be financed mainly by Kiev’s European allies.
It should be recalled at this point that the U.S. Air Force had already placed orders for this type of weaponry for Ukraine during last year, through the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC). That the aforementioned number of missiles may be shipped in the near future—within about six weeks, as claimed—speaks to an accelerated production rate. However, details regarding their design and which industrial actors were involved in the process remain unknown.
In this regard, it is useful to highlight that during the requests for proposals, the USAF received more than 16 unidentified bidders, revealing a series of requirements that could partially clarify the capabilities of the new ERAM missiles that will be sent to Ukraine. In particular, it was specified that the new weapon should feature an explosive warhead of at least about 227 kilograms, a range of at least 463 kilometers, and a minimum speed of Mach 0.6.
In addition, it was indicated that these missiles must be able to operate their navigation system even in environments where the enemy has deployed electronic warfare elements that interfere with their signal, maintaining a CEP of less than 10 meters. Furthermore, the weapon was required to integrate different types of fuzes, maintaining a modular architecture that also facilitates changes in the future.
In view of this, the range of known armaments capable of meeting these requirements is reduced to a small list of possibilities, namely: Boeing’s PJDAM munitions costing between 25 and 30 thousand dollars per unit, the Gray Wolf signed separately by the Pentagon with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman in 2017, and finally, the MACE developed at the request of the U.S. Navy.
Regardless of the technical aspects, it is also important to highlight that the news of the shipment of these new ERAM missiles comes at a time of increased efforts by Washington to negotiate with Moscow an end to the war in Ukraine, one of President Donald Trump’s main campaign promises. Even more so at a time when U.S. analysts indicated that Kiev may have been prevented from carrying out new attacks inside Russian territory with weapons such as the ATACMS deployable from M142 HIMARS launchers.
*Images used for illustrative purposes
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