The US Department of State has approved the sale of up to 3,550 Extended Range Attack Munition (ERAM) missiles, equipped with as many Embedded Global Positioning System (GPS)/Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) (EGI) “hardened” against jamming with the Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM), Y-Code, or M-Code, to Ukraine. Including all technical support, spares etcetera, the package has a value that could reach an estimate ceiling of 825 million USD.

The ERAM, which is thought to have a strike range of between 150 and 280 miles, is a low-cost stand-off weapon born from a USAF Request For Information dating back to early 2024. In July 2024, some 16 different Companies were contacted to submit their proposals for the new air launched munition and it revealed that Ukraine was the intended recipient. The RFP noted: “this munition is pivotal for accelerating Ukraine’s capability to meet warfighter needs efficiently and effectively and provides an affordable mass weapon to be produced at scale”.

In July 2025, the program was updated and expanded in scope: the initial focus on Ukraine “alone” was superseded by a USAF-wide interest for novel, low-cost strike solutions, supported by substantial funding provided by the new US Administration through “Reconciliation” funding and FY2026 Defence Budget.

In July 2025 the initiative spawned another project, the Lugged Affordable Cruise Missile (LACM) which aims for a weapon costing no more than 300,000 dollars apiece, capable to be produced at a rate of over 1,000 per year. LACM is intended to be a 500lb class weapon with minimum 100lb warhead, capable of blast / fragmentation / and limited penetration effects enabled by selectable angles of impact exceeding 70 degrees and variable fuze options. Range is required to exceed 250 nautical miles (100 nm at less than 1,000 feet altitude). Deliveries should start already in April 2026 at a rate of at least 25 per month.

CoAspire and Zone 5 Technologies are among the 16 Companies that entered the framework for the original ERAM and both companies are involved in other USAF projects for affordable stand-off effectors, including Enterprise Test Vehicle (ETV) and Rapidly Adaptable Affordable Cruise Missile (RAACM).

ERAM is currently depicted using one of the proposed solutions, specifically Boeing’s Powered JDAM, a solution combining wings and aerodynamic mods with the addition of a TDI J85 engine to the baseline JDAM guided bomb technology (with Mk 82 500 lbs warhead or equivalent), but in reality we don’t yet know which ERAM solution will actually go into production even though deliveries are anticipated within as little as 6 weeks.

It’s also not disclosed what aircraft Ukraine will use to carry ERAM: F-16 is a fair assumption, but it wouldn’t surprise if quick integration was worked out also for some or all among Mig-29, Su-24 and Su-27 as well, as seen with other weapons including HARM, JDAM-ER and even STORM SHADOW.

Ukraine will use funding from Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway and Foreign Military Financing from the United States for this purchase. Crucially, it should be able to employ these new long-range weapons with more freedom than in the past, when long range strikes into Russia have been forbidden by both US and European governments.

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