WITH the demand of low-cost cruise missiles becoming a growing class of effective, mass-produced strike munitions, the “Rusty Dagger” cruise missile in its latest version has been launched from a ground-based platform. Multiple industry news outlets in the past week beginning Oct 22 have reported on the missile’s launch in its new Block 40 “enhanced capability variant” with images from the weapon’s designer and developer, Zone 5 Technologies.
The San Luis Obispo, California-based company did not disclose where or when the photos were taken, nor under which specific projects the ground-based launches were conducted, reports said. However, this configuration’s launch follows an agreement to rapidly field maritime strike capabilities to the US and its allies including those in the Pacific.
Zone 5 Technologies is promoting the Rusty Dagger as “the affordable, mass-produced, survivable, lethal, precision deep-strike weapon of choice for the United States and Allies, bringing overwhelming firepower against any adversary in any domain”. Some 2,000-plus units of the Block 40 variant will be produced by 2028.
An earlier company statement on Aug 20 said the US Navy selected Zone 5 Technologies for the Coalition Heterogeneous Affordable Offensive Strike (CHAOS) programme, a major weapons initiative to field affordable and scalable precision strike weapons for land and manoeuvring maritime targets.
Under the US$65M Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) with CMG Networks on behalf of Naval Aviation Systems Consortium, Zone 5 Technologies will design, build, test and deliver the CHAOS variant of its AGM-188 Rusty Dagger.
“Zone 5 is proud to partner with the Navy on CHAOS and deliver industry-best scalable maritime strike capabilities to the US and our allies,” said Thomas Akers, CEO of Zone 5 Technologies.
Under the effort with PAE Munitions and its Precision Strike Weapons programme office, PMX201, Zone 5 Technologies will leverage its successes in rapidly fielding precision strike weapons across service branches and international partners to provide the US and coalition partners with a credible, affordable, and scalable maritime strike capability, the statement added.
Mass Produced Maritime Strike Capability for Asia-Pacific?
KONGSBERG Australia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Zone 5 Technologies to explore collaboration opportunities to provide affordable, mass producible long-range strike and air-defence and anti-drone missiles for Australia and New Zealand.
The MoU establishes a framework for the organisations to collaborate on local manufacturing and supply chain opportunities and builds on KONGSBERG’s growing weapons manufacturing capability in Australia, the Norwegian company’s subsidiary said in a statement on Oct 6.
Zone 5 Technologies, “the market leader in affordable mass munitions”, designs and manufactures highly scalable and affordable Deep Strike solutions and Interceptors. The combat-proven Rusty Dagger is a long-range strike cruise missile with flexible air, ground and ship launch options. The “White Spike” air defence interceptor is designed for subsonic threats with particular focus on countering drones and is being integrated into NASAMS air defence command and control.
KONGSBERG Australia is a wholly owned subsidiary of KONGSBERG and a Strategic Partner to the Commonwealth of Australia’s Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO) Enterprise. It is well advanced in establishing the Kongsberg Missile Factory in Williamtown NSW, the first manufacturing and maintenance facility for the Naval Strike Missile and Joint Strike Missile outside of Norway.
KONGSBERG’s recent acquisition of Zone 5 Technologies will enable deep collaboration and new guided weapon manufacturing opportunities.
John Fry, KONGSBERG Australia’s Managing Director said: “As we have seen in Europe and the US, the current environment requires the ability to produce capable and affordable effectors quickly and at scale. Building resilient supply chains and industrial capacity is critical to ensuring Australia and its allies can sustain capability when it matters. Key design principles for Zone 5 Technologies’ solutions are simplified supply chains and manufacturability at scale”.
