OREANDA-NEWS. The Merican company Raytheon has received a contract for $2 billion to create a Long-Range Standoff nuclear cruise missile (LRSO). This is reported by Defense News.

These weapons will be received by the American strategic bombers B-52 Stratofortress and B-21 Raider. Production of the LRSO is planned for 2027. The US Air Force wants to purchase more than a thousand such missiles, the range of which will be over 2,4 thousand kilometers.

The LRSO will replace the AGM-86B Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM), developed back in the 1970s, the material says.

Earlier, the US Air Force published the first image of the B-21 Raider strategic bomber, which is currently being developed in the United States. «Designed to perform conventional and long-range nuclear tasks and to operate in the conditions of high threats of tomorrow, the B-21 will become a real and flexible component of the nuclear triad», the military department commented on the image.

The aircraft will have a «flying wing» scheme, similar to that used in the B-2 Spirit strategic bomber. The jet streams of it's engines will also be shielded. The first flight of the bomber is scheduled for May 2022.