The War Zone has reported:

The U.S. Navy plans to negotiate a contract with Lockheed Martin to integrate the AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) onto the U.S. Air Force’s B-52 Stratofortress bombers, according to a government notice dated Oct. 7. The addition would give the bomber another long-range option for attacking ships as the U.S. military responds to increasingly capable naval forces, particularly in the Indo-Pacific.

Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) said it intends to hold sole-source negotiations with Lockheed Martin and then award a cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order. The work would cover the missile integration, software updates, related testing, repairs to test assets and failure review boards. The notice does not set a timeline for completing the work or fielding the capability.

The proposed integration follows the Air Force’s recent disclosure that the stealthy B-2 bomber can also launch LRASM, a capability that had not previously been made public. LRASM has also been integrated on the B-1B, which means the B-52 would join the other two Air Force strategic bomber types as a prospective operator.

The B-52 already carries large numbers of air-launched cruise missiles, including weapons in the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) family. LRASM is derived from that family and has a similar general shape, but incorporates features intended to locate and strike ships in contested maritime settings. The bomber can carry as many as 20 JASSMs, whose dimensions match LRASM’s, although the government notice does not say how many LRASMs a B-52 would carry.

This is not the first time the aircraft’s LRASM integration has been considered. Naval News reported in November 2019 that $10 million in Fiscal Year 2019 funding had been set aside to study fitting the missile to the bomber, with Lockheed Martin and the Navy and Air Force expected to participate. Officials said then that neither the fielding schedule nor the bomber’s eventual missile capacity had been established.

The Air Force’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget proposal also describes plans to integrate the latest LRASM and JASSM variants onto the B-52, including versions not yet cleared for use on the aircraft. The proposal frames the work as a way to enable deployment of next-generation stealthy cruise missiles against targets protected by sophisticated integrated air defence systems. It lists engineering and manufacturing development, software updates and weapons integration among the effort’s priorities.

Planned work in FY2027 includes adding the missiles’ operational flight programmes to the B-52’s baseline bomber software. It also calls for validating safe weapon separation from wing-mounted stations and the internal carriage launcher, updating armament interfaces and completing system-safety testing.

LRASM is intended to attack high-value surface vessels at long distances while reducing the exposure of the aircraft that launches it. Its guidance combines GPS-assisted inertial navigation with onboard sensors and autonomous target recognition, features intended to support operations in heavily defended environments. An imaging infrared seeker enables terminal target acquisition without active radar emissions during that phase of flight.

The missile has an integrated route-planning capability linked to its onboard electronic support measures system. It can receive threat updates through a datalink and is designed to cooperate with other LRASMs in coordinated strikes. The weapon’s precise operational range has not been publicly disclosed. The baseline version is reported to reach targets 200 to 300 miles away, comparable to the AGM-158A JASSM, while the forthcoming C-3 variant is expected to match the JASSM-ER’s reported range of about 600 miles.

For the B-52, LRASM would add a dedicated anti-ship weapon to an established land-attack arsenal. A bomber could launch several missiles toward ships from a considerable distance, forcing an adversary to contend with multiple incoming weapons and adding missile volume to a coordinated strike. The aircraft’s payload capacity would allow it to contribute substantial numbers of weapons while remaining beyond the reach of some enemy air defences.

The B-52 has previously been adapted to carry AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, though Harpoon is not listed among the bomber’s current publicly documented weapons. LRASM offers longer range, a stealthy design and the ability to respond to threats and adapt during flight, according to the source material. The aircraft also has a demonstrated naval mine-laying role using the Quickstrike family of aerial mines.

That capability includes 2,000-pound Quickstrike-ER mines fitted with GPS-aided winged guidance kits. They can glide to designated water locations from more than 40 miles away, allowing the bomber to place mines more precisely while staying farther from potentially defended waters. The mines can threaten shipping routes, access to ports and naval movements.

The wider U.S. focus on bomber-launched anti-ship weapons comes as modern naval forces grow more capable, particularly in the Indo-Pacific. China’s expanding surface fleet, increasingly sophisticated air defences and layered anti-access/area-denial capabilities have made long-distance attacks against ships a significant consideration in U.S. military planning.

LRASM is designed to address those challenges through long-range flight, reduced observability and autonomous terminal targeting. Its sensors and navigation are intended to help it identify and engage suitable targets where communications or external targeting support may be limited or contested. Adding bombers as launch platforms could increase the number of forces able to carry out a strike without relying solely on tactical aircraft or surface combatants.

A B-52 carrying a substantial LRASM load could take part in a coordinated attack alongside B-1s, stealth bombers, naval aircraft and other forces. The B-52’s payload makes it suited to delivering larger quantities of weapons from outside the most heavily defended areas. The Air Force has also acknowledged LRASM use on the B-2, adding another dimension to its anti-ship capabilities.

Publicly discussed LRASM integration efforts extend beyond the bombers. They include the F-15E, F-15EX, F-16C/D, certain F-35 variants and the Navy’s P-8A Poseidon, in addition to established launch platforms: the Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the B-1. The planned B-52 work is part of a broader effort to make the missile available across more U.S. military aircraft.

The B-52 fleet is also preparing for major upgrades, including a radar overhaul, new engines, improved communications systems and other changes. The scale of the work will lead to the aircraft being redesignated from B-52H to B-52J. The upgraded bombers are also slated to gain the Long-Range Stand Off (LRSO) nuclear cruise missile and are expected to remain in service through at least 2050.

Even in its current configuration, the B-52’s payload and standoff launch ability suit it to carrying LRASM. Improved networking is expected to let the upgraded aircraft operate as part of a broader kill web, using data from multiple platforms and sensors for targeting across long distances. In more dynamic operations, the new radar is expected to generate targeting information in real time.