The U.S. Air Force announced a test of the Family of Affordable Mass Munitions-Lugged, with photos showing the weapon was a Rusty Dagger low-cost cruise missile.
The U.S. Air Force announced that it completed in March 2026 a series of integration trials of one of the Extended Range Attack Munition (ERAM) weapons, the Rusty Dagger low-cost air-launched surface-strike cruise missile developed by Zone 5 Technologies. The weapon was released by an F-16 Fighting Falcon jet from Eglin AFB, Florida.
The Apr. 13 press release said the test campaign included a series of captive carry and release trials, including “fit and functionality checks, validation of loading procedures, and ensuring flight compatibility of the FAMM-L and F-16.” The release added “this effort culminated with the carriage and release of the weapon off the F-16.”
The statement does not identify either the Rusty Dagger, the developer Zone 5 or the ERAM program designation, but rather uses the Family of Affordable Mass Munitions-Lugged (FAMM-L) designation, that the program came to be named subsequently. The ERAM designation, however, can be seen stenciled on the inert weapon, together with a serial number starting with “RD,” the initials of Rusty Dagger.
Zone 5 itself reshared Eglin AFB’s LinkedIn post, saying it was “proud to have supported Team Eglin’s rapid Rusty Dagger integration on the F-16.” The company added “Together, we’re making ‘Affordable Mass’ a reality with precision strike capabilities at scale!”
I firmly believe that weapons often match the cost of what’s taken out via secondary effects if not directly, but at ~$250k (will drop with scale) and tens if not hundreds of these being employed by multiple platforms changes that cost imbalance equation drastically in every way. pic.twitter.com/E1wkqwOSSQ
— Abd (@blocksixtynine) April 17, 2026
This new test campaign follows a Jan. 21, 2026, live-warhead test of a standoff cruise missile by the 96th Test Wing at the Eglin Test and Training Range (ETTR. On that occasion, the service specifically identified the weapon as the ERAM.
The ERAM program was initially launched to arm Ukrainian jets with simple, scalable and jam-resistant cruise missiles. The goal was to throw in affordable air-launched mass against Russia, with lower costs compared to current cruise missiles.
Rusty Dagger tests
The March tests show the F-16D Block 50 of the Team Eglin Test Enterprise carrying two Rusty Daggers, along with two CATM-120 AMRAAMs, a CATM-9 Sidewinder short-range AAM, and an AN/AAQ-28 Litening pod. The 96th Test Wing and 58th Wing were responsible for the integration and operational test respectively.
The 780th Test Squadron commander Lt. Col. Brett Tillman called it “a perfect demonstration of test readiness to meet warfighter needs.” Tillman further said that “integrating the entire test team allowed us to safely test and deliver a critical capability at incredible speed.”
The 40th Flight Test Squadron commander Lt. Col. Taylor Wilson underscored how the team is “accelerating experimentation” for rapidly operationalizing the weapon. “The team was able to rapidly generate and execute sorties to deliver crucial data for evaluating new, innovative warfighter capabilities,” said Wilson.
The earlier live-warhead test on Jan. 21 at the ETTR meanwhile “met all primary objectives including a full warhead detonation, and gathered critical data to mature a new, cost-effective, long-range strike capability.” The release highlighted that the test took place in “less than 16 months from the program’s initial contract award.”
While it is not clear which platform was used to release the Rusty Dagger, the weapon can clearly be identified in the officially released sequence of photos, capturing the missile heading down vertically on a static target, before its live warheads explodes.
The release called the ERAM a “next-generation, air-launched cruise missile designed to provide affordable mass to the fight.” The service further explained that “it delivers a cost-effective, precision-guided, stand-off capability against high-value fixed targets,” while being “rapidly producible in large numbers.”
This actually should be the AGM-188A Rusty Dagger being certified/integrated which falls under the Extended Range Attack Munition (ERAM) effort and by extension the FAMM umbrella. While the requirement threshold was 250nm, the AGM-188A pushes that out to nearly 500nm (930km). https://t.co/hK52flCgi7 pic.twitter.com/IdWi9g1G1N
— Abd (@blocksixtynine) April 17, 2026
“Moving from a contract to a live-fire demonstration in under two years proves we can deliver lethal, cost-effective capability at the speed of relevance,” said Brig. Gen. Robert Lyons III, Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Weapons.
Rapid progress
The Air Force Life-Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) first sought the air-launched tactical, scalable, cheap air-to-ground weapon in June 2024. By August 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration had approved 3,350 units to be sold to Ukraine, evidencing that things moved reasonably fast in the intervening time.
Two weapons were downselected, with the first being the Rusty Dagger. The other low-cost cruise missile as a part of the ERAM program is CoAspire’s Rapidly Adaptable Affordable Cruise Missile (RAACM), which the company tested in August 2025 on an A-4 Skyhawk.
The U.S. military is also envisaging cheap air-launched munitions blurring the lines between long-range One Way Attack (OWA) drones and cruise missiles, like Project Artemis.The ERAM project progressed independently and rapidly, moving from conception (July 2024) to production (September 2025) in just 14 months.
From ERAM to FAMM-L
Air and Space Forces Magazine shed further light in a Mar. 24, 2026, report about Air Force acquisitions chief Brig. Gen. Robert P. Lyons III’s appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC). The publication said that the service contracted Zone 5 Technologies and CoAspire for the ERAM in “late-2024.”
Thus, from the time of conception, the ERAM program progressed to the contracting stage in four months, fielded flying prototypes in four to seven months, and entered production in just 14 months.
Under the name ERAM, 🇺🇦will purchase missiles from 2 mfrs at once, with the 1st batch expected by the end of 2026.
According to AviationWeek, 🇺🇦will procure 2 different types of 🚀to be launched from both F-16 and MiG-29 jets: the Rusty Dagger by Zone 5 and the RAACM by CoAspire. pic.twitter.com/en42OMMr9h— 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝕯𝔢𝔞𝔡 𝕯𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔦𝔠𝔱△ 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇺🇲🇬🇷 (@TheDeadDistrict) September 6, 2025
The ERAM then figured as the Family of Affordable Mass Munitions (FAMM) program in the service’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget request’s Missile Procurement section, seeking $656,333 for 3,010 units. In the Research, Development, Test and Evaluation section of the FY2026 budget document, the FAMM even encompassed the Rapid Dragon palletized launch program.
The budget document stressed upon the low-cost, and mass-producible features of the FAMM weapons:
“The Family of Affordable Mass Missiles (FAMM) will be a Modular Weapon Series (M-Series), open-architected munition for long-range, affordability, high producibility, and palletized employment. FAMM lifecycle prototyping activities will include integration and flight demonstrations of affordable and highly manufacturable small turbine engines, seekers/sensors, networked datalinks, collaborative autonomy behaviors, and ordnance (warhead/fuse). Work will also include testing and certification of palletized mass employment munition flight vehicles.”
The ERAM/FAMM’s origins date back even further to the Air Force’s Enterprise Test Vehicle (ETV) program, which aimed to develop a low-cost, palletized, air-to-surface munition. Existing defense industry heavyweights have also developed their own cost-effective, scalable palletized-launch surface-strike munitions.
Leidos’s Black Arrow, that the Air Force designated as the AGM-190A in February, and Lockheed Martin’s Common Multi-Mission Truck (CMMT) are two of them. The CMMT has two versions, including an unpowered glide-vehicle called CMMT-D and a smaller powered variant called CMMT-X.
#Czechia/#USA 🇨🇿🇺🇸: PBS Aerospace, a member of the Czech PBS Group (@PBS_GRP), a jet engine manufacturer, today announced that it has signed a significant subcontract with Zone 5 Technologies, Inc. The contract is valued at tens of millions of USD.
The contract follows the… pic.twitter.com/qRuiC8HtA5
— 𝕻𝖗𝖆𝖎𝖘𝖊 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕾𝖙𝖊𝖕𝖍 (@praisethesteph) February 25, 2026
