Experts say high-speed, highly accurate air-launched ballistic missiles (ALBM) such as the Israel Aerospace Industries’ Rampage, get around problems facing ground-based ballistic missiles and air-launched cruise missiles (ALCM) — weapons that use small wings to fly great distances and maintain altitude
Many countries, including the United States and Britain, experimented with ALBMs during the Cold War Only Israel, Russia and China are known to field the weapons now
The US tested a hypersonic ALBM the Lockheed Martin AGM-183 but it received no funding for the 2025 fiscal year because it has a large arsenal of cruise missiles and other types of long-range strike weapons, Washington has otherwise shown little interest in ALBMs
A US Air Force official, speaking on condition of anonymity said,
Quote
"ALBMs are not used in Air Force operations”
a senior US defense technical analyst who declined to be identified because the matter is sensitive, said,
Quote
“Raytheon’s SM-6 an air-defense missile that has been repurposed for air-to-air and surface-to-surface missions, also has been tested as an air-launched anti-ship weapon”
In tests, the missile was able to strike a small target on land representing the center of mass of a destroyer, the analyst said Publicly, the SM-6 is not meant for air-to-ground strikes
a defense industry executive said, on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter,
Quote
Because ALBMs are essentially a combination of guidance, warheads and rocket motors, many countries that have precision weapons already have the capability to pursue them"
“This is a clever way of taking a common set of technologies and components and turning it into a very interesting new weapon that gives them far more capability and therefore options, at a reasonable price”
