What started as a teaser video turned out to be a new family of missiles that Lockheed plans to develop. Naval News asked Lockheed for further information on their new Common Multi-Mission Truck (CMMT) or “Comet” missile.
Naval News reached out to Lockheed Martin in March 2025 for further details on its new missile shown in the teaser video. Scott Callaway, Director of Affordable Mass at Lockheed Martin replied to Naval News.
Naval News: What is the missile’s purpose, performance, and specifications?
Callaway: “Our customers have a critical capability gap to fill: A new breed of vehicles that are highly adaptable, scalable and affordable—and as available on day 100 of any conflict as day one. We helped jumpstart the affordable mass revolution by demonstrating the feasibility of palletized effects with Rapid Dragon. And now we’re doing the same with a modular vehicle that will put affordable mass on target and support a variety of other missions.
“CMMT is a low-cost family of vehicles designed to deploy from fighters, bombers and airlifters, as well as other air and ground-launch platforms. We are flying CMMT air vehicles with two configurations this year: A variant that deploys via airlifters like the C-130 and C-17 to put affordable mass on target, and a shorter long-range launched effect that deploys from helicopters. The former variant, which can also deploy from fighters and bombers, has a range exceeding 500 nautical miles. [The CMMT is 96 inches long and can fit inside the F-35’s internal weapons bay. Extra fuel modules can be added to increase the CMMT’s range, but will also increase its length].
“CMMT is a manufacturing program above all else. It must be 100% producible from the start. We are making it low-cost, producible and scalable first, then spiraling in performance-enhancing and mission-specific capabilities as use cases and threats emerge. The key to accomplishing this is CMMT’s modular and WOSA-compliant [Weapon Open System Architecture] design; a modular design offers both mission and production flexibility; subsystems like seekers, engines and warheads can be readily integrated to meet program-specific requirements.
“Because CMMT is both modular and scalable, we can accelerate production and meet combat surge requests by duplicating production cells as needed. We can stand up multiple production lines in the U.S. and partner nations, each of which might produce, say, 2,500 units. And we can add more sites as needed, each boosting production by another 2,500 units. We call that distributed production. We can also bring in new suppliers to build CMMT modules to meet increasing demand. For example, by sending a forward section with a seeker or an aft section with an engine to other factories.
“Unit price depends greatly on performance and production requirements that our customers have not yet shared. We understand that the U.S. Air Force is pricing its Franklin missile at $150,000 for the basic air vehicle, and we plan to be competitive on that front.
Naval News: Does the missile have a name?
Callaway: “CMMT™, pronounced “comet,” stands for Common Multi-Mission Truck.”
Naval News: Warhead and sensor types?
Callaway: “The CMMT family consists of modular and open-architecture airframes that can be sized to accommodate a variety of payloads and motors to meet mission requirements.”
Naval News: What lessons, if any, were learned from recent combat and peer nations in designing this new missile?
Callaway: “Our customers are looking for a low-cost missile that can be rapidly produced so they continue to be in inventory even when being expended in combat. We designed CMMT as an open, modular and low-cost air vehicle that keeps warfighters in the fight. Filling that gap with the lower-cost CMMT also reserves the more capable, but expensive cruise missiles in inventory for the most challenging targets.”
Naval News: What new technological and manufacturing improvements does this missile incorporate over others in service or in development?
Callaway: “Lockheed Martin is investing billions of dollars to transform its tools and processes to drive efficiency, increase velocity and enhance its programs. CMMT is one of the first programs to benefit from this transformation from program start. For example, there are catalogs of all-digital missile systems and software architectures from across the corporation—we selected proven designs and systems to jumpstart our CMMT design. We reduced the time required to get to a preliminary design review—a major program milestone—by 50 percent. This is agile synergy that only a company like Lockheed Martin, with its broad portfolio of proven products and deep bench of engineering talent, can leverage.”
Naval News: Does it have naval applications, and if so, what can carry and launch it?
Callaway: “CMMT is a modular and open system that can be equipped with a variety of payloads and sensors. That means it can be configured for a wide range of missions and target sets, including maritime targets. CMMT uses standardized physical interfaces and software messages, so it readily integrates with U.S Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps tactical aircraft racks and launchers that accommodate 14-inch lugs. Ashore, it can also be equipped with a booster for HIMARS launch.”
Naval News: Who did Lockheed partner with in developing this missile, if anyone?
Callaway: “Lockheed Martin is developing CMMT internally.”
Naval News: Can CMMT be launched from the USMC’s AH-1Z attack helicopter and the NMESIS JLTV in place of the Naval Strike Missile canisters.
Callaway: “We are developing a version of CMMT as a long-range effect that launches from rotary aircraft.”
Naval News Comments and Analysis
Naval News reached out to the RAND Corporation for analysis and Michael Bohnert, a licensed engineer at RAND, replied. According to his RAND biography, “Bohnert has supported analysis work for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, SOCOM, U.S. Air Force, Australian DoD, and Canadian DND in topics including emerging and current technology, engineering and design, industrial base management, force structure, modeling and simulation, and wargaming.”
Bohnert stated that, “Rapid Dragon, or more commonly referred to as palletized munitions from airlift, are historically a very cost-effective means to deliver high volumes of ordinance. However, they pose three sets of challenges. The first is not all munitions are suitable to be launched from airlifters which is not necessarily a problem but does pose larger force employment questions such as the effects of over specializations. The second is weaponizing airlifters results in potential treatment similar to that of a bomber, even in peacetime, which may result in restrictions on basing and flight access. The third is airlift is a high demand low supply asset, and any palletized solution would require an increase in airlift capacity to prevent `double counting.’
“A major challenge for munitions development is balancing performance, cost, and scalability. The U.S. has historically prioritized performance over cost and scalability. Concepts such as the CMMT are fine as long as appetite control is applied towards capabilities to support cost and scalability, and that sufficient volumes are procured to take advantage of the lower costs and higher production rates.
“These advantages apply to the naval theater as much as they do to land and air. However, palletized munitions are more suited to land-based aircraft as there are relatively few pallet-capable aircraft carrier-based platforms and pallet-based launchers do take up precious space on a ship. However, high volumes of low-cost munitions simplify operations, sustainment, and logistics while also overwhelming opposing ship defenses.”
Naval News asked Bohnert for his views on dropping the CMMT out the back of an U.S. Marine V-22 tiltrotor or CH-53 helicopter. “CH-53 and V-22 would likely have much lower capacity resulting in less efficient delivery and their slower speed may require release at higher altitude to provide significant clearance for munition launch,” said Bohnert.
Regarding the information that Lockheed Director Scott Callaway wrote above, Bohnert replied via email on March 10, 2025, “So affordable mass has been a problem. There is currently no affordable mass equivalent for long-range strike (JASSMs/LRASM) [Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile/Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile], how Mk-80 series and JDAMs [Joint Direct Attack Munition] are to Hellfire and JAGMs [Joint Air-to-Ground Missile]. And there is currently no modern powered equivalent to SDBs [Small Diameter Bombs] (Harpoons [missiles] are old). Subsonic missiles like CMMT and competitors have the potential to fill the gap of affordable mass for JASSM-class and SDBs. With high mass you can overwhelm air warfare ship defenses. Common suggested alternatives are Mk-80 series bomb kits (powered JDAMs) and supersonic (not hypersonic) missiles.
“Given the price point of $150,000 per missile, a maritime seeker may be equal in cost to the missile, negating some of the affordability gains unless a cheap seeker is used. Ships also require larger warheads with different blast profile than land attack, anti-vehicle, and anti-personnel missiles. It may take many more CMMT-like missiles to be effective in a maritime environment, and ships have much less missile storage than airfields.”
Michael Bohnert, Engineer, RAND Corporation
