The US Air Force completed a live-warhead test of a low-cost standoff cruise missile on the Eglin Test and Training Range on Jan. 21, 2026, in the context of the Extended Range Attack Munition (ERAM) programme. While the USAF’s official press release does not identify the munition tested, it is understood to be the RUSTY DAGGER, Zone 5’s entry for the project. The test comes less than 16 months after the program’s initial contract award and, according to the USAF, has met “all primary objectives”, including full warhead detonation.
The ERAM program seeks a low-cost, mass-producible solution for stand-off attacks on ranges exceeding 250 nautical miles (460 km). While the weapon needs to deliver effects even in the presence of heavy electromagnetic interferences from enemy action, the requirements are purposefully “relaxed” as the main attributes of this weapon must be its low cost and speed-to-service. ERAM is a compact, 500 lbs class weapon.
The USAF anticipates further future development of the program to deliver more sophisticated and higher performances weapons or variants and some work is already ongoing on ERAM developments offering greater speeds, but the first objective is to produce thousands of weapons, quickly and at low cost.
Ukraine has been cleared early on to buy up to 3,550 ERAM missiles and, according to plans as communicated during 2025, should receive a first lot of 840 missiles by the end of October 2026. From the authorization, we learn the weapon(s) will be equipped with 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. Including all technical support, spares etcetera, the package has a value that could reach an estimate ceiling of $825 million. Ukraine will use funding from Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway and Foreign Military Financing from the United States for this purchase.
The first production run is expected to be split between RUSTY DAGGER, designed by Zone 5 Technologies, and the Rapidly Adaptable Affordable Cruise Missile (RAACM) by CoAspire. CoAspire and Zone 5 Technologies are among the 16 Companies that originally entered the framework for ERAM and both companies are also involved in other USAF projects for affordable stand-off effectors, including Enterprise Test Vehicle (ETV) and Rapidly Adaptable Affordable Cruise Missile (RAACM).
The test at Eglin involved the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Armament Directorate, the 96th Test Wing, and “industry partners”. The weapon has been released by an F-15 aircraft although in Ukraine’s case the primary carrier would be, for obvious reasons, the F-16. The test was planned and analyzed by the team at Eglin Air Force Base’s Central Control Facility, leveraging the unique capabilities of Eglin’s vast range.
Testing activity, including long range flights of RAACM, is known to have taken place during 2025 but presumably those earlier flights did not yet include a fully complete weapon with live warhead. Last year there was an expectation that the very first weapons would be supplied to Ukraine before the year was over; there is no confirmation of this having happened. It is possible that milestone ended up delayed into this year.
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