The U.S. Air Force is requesting nearly $50M to kick-start a new Air-Launched Ballistic Missile (ALBM) program.

An ALBM is exactly what the name implies: a ballistic missile launched from an aircraft rather than the ground. The launch platform's altitude and speed give ALBMs quite an energy advantage over their terrestrial counterparts.

While they are fast—think Mach 6-10—they are not considered hypersonics because they fly a high-arching, ballistic trajectory.

In the 1950s, the U.S. worked to field an ALBM, and the closest they got was the AGM-48 Skybolt.

Designed to launch from high-altitude B-52 bombers, the 38-foot, 11,000-pound, Mach 9 nuclear-tipped AGM-48 had a projected 1,000-mile range and 300-mile apex (that’s higher than the International Space Station).

While promising, Skybolt encountered technological and budget issues and was ultimately shelved in 1962 when the Navy fielded the Polaris submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).

In the early 1980s, DARPA dusted off the ALBM concept again with the Joint Tactical Missile System (JTACMS). Initial contracts were awarded for surface and air-launched versions, but the Air Force left the effort in 1984. The program dropped the “Joint” and the missile went into service with the Army in 1991 as ATACMS. Yes, the Air Force once had plans for a fighter-jet-launched ATACMS (one competitor had an air-launched Patriot variant).

In the 2000s, while the U.S. was anchored in the Middle East and China was getting into world trade, Israel was probably the only nation investing in ALBMs—though for a different reason.

Rafael’s Sparrow ALBMs were developed to be ballistic targets to test Israel’s defense systems.

Designed to be launched from F-15s and F-16s, they come in 3-size versions: Black Sparrow, Blue Sparrow, and Silver Sparrow.

The U.S. even looked into buying Sparrows in 2015 for U.S. system testing (which was opportunity #3 to have an ALBM).

In 2019, Rafael adapted Sparrow into an offensive weapon called Rocks; Sparrow-variant ALBMs have been used in combat in 2024 and earlier this year during Epic Fury.

In 2024, Israel’s IAI unveiled an ALBM called Air LORA. As the name implies, it’s adapted from the ground-launched LORA.

In recent years, Russia and China have both invested in developing ALBMs.

Russia fielded the Kinzhal in 2017, an adaptation of the ground-launched Iskander (SS-26 Stone).

In 2022, China unveiled the YJ-21 air-launched anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM), and last year it debuted the nuclear-capable JL-1 ALBM (adapted from the ground-launched DF-21).

While it looks like FOMO, the U.S. request for funding to field an ALBM does fill a void in the stand-off arsenal. ALBMs can complement cruise missiles and hypersonics with “unique trajectory profiles to address distinct target sets” in a way that is (hopefully) more producible and affordable.

Doing a clean-sheet design for a new weapon is the American way, but not always the best way.

If you haven’t picked up on all the precedents by now, the best approach is to buy an Israeli solution and adapt a ground-launched U.S. missile for an ALBM.

That’s an “and” — as in both efforts should be run in parallel. Here’s why.

What’s old is new.

Time will tell how the U.S. ALBM effort takes shape, but it should absolutely be called Skybolt II.

During the first 30-day sprint of the U.S. Army's "Right to Integrate" initiative, 74 systems from 59 companies were connected to Anduril’s Lattice software platform.

TRIVIA

On this day in 1913, 18-year-old Georgia "Tiny" Broadwick made history as the first woman in the U.S. to perform which aeronautical feat?

A) solo flight 
B) aerial photograph 
C) parachute jump 

Rocket Motor Bottlenecks. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) issued a report warning that planned 2027 missile-defense interceptor buys will push the U.S. solid rocket motor (SRM) supply chain to its absolute limit. Accelerated by massive munition expenditures during recent operations, the report details how decades of industrial consolidation, complex subcomponent supply chains, and cyclical government demand continue to choke the Pentagon's ability to rapidly scale missile and interceptor production.

GM + Lockheed Martin. General Motors and Lockheed Martin are partnering to scale manufacturing and expand production capabilities.

Air Force CCA enters production. The U.S. Air Force selected Anduril and General Atomics to build the military's first fleet of operational Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) loyal wingman drones. The contracts cover the first 3 production lots, targeting a minimum of 150 airframes by 2030 at a sub-$30M unit cost. Concurrently, Anduril, Collins Aerospace, and Shield AI advanced in the next phase to compete for the mission autonomy software contract.

“systemic constraints in the munitions industrial base, including limited production capacity, fragile supply chains, long-lead dependencies, and related production bottlenecks, may impair the ability of the United States to produce, sustain, and expand the availability of munitions, missiles, and equipment required for the national defense.”

— President Donald Trump, in a memo that invoked the Defense Production Act to shore up the munitions industrial base

Coincidence this happened the same time as the GM-Lockheed Martin partnership announcement?

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ANSWER
C) Parachute from an airplane. On June 21, 1913, strapped into a seat outside the cockpit, Georgia "Tiny" Broadwick became the first American woman to complete a parachute jump from a moving aircraft. Other notable things she did: trained male pilots in WWI on how to jump out of an airplane and is credited with doing the first planned free-fall, which was a mistake—she had an issue and essentially invented the rip cord and free-fall to separate her from being entangled on an aircraft tail. #badass