Chairman Wicker Praises Agreements to Rapidly Expand Affordable, Mass-Produced Strike Weapons

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today applauded new framework agreements announced by the Pentagon that will accelerate the fielding of low-cost, high-volume munitions for America's warfighters.

Chairman Wicker released the following statement:

"I am glad to see these urgently needed agreements, which are a direct result of collaboration between the Congress and the Pentagon to fundamentally change our approach in defense procurement." Chairman Wicker said. "Congress got started by appropriating significant sums in last year's Working Families Tax Cut act for low-cost weapons, and today's announcement is a validation of that approach. It demonstrates the kind of return on investment we can expect more of if we work together to make a generational investment in our national defense with the fiscal year 2027 budget."

Background

The agreements partner with innovative companies Anduril, CoAspire, Leidos, and Zone 5 to produce the Low-Cost Containerized Munitions (LCCM) program, while a parallel effort with Castelion advances scalable low-cost hypersonic weapons. Together, they set the stage for procuring more than 10,000 low-cost containerized missiles over the next three years and at least 500 Blackbeard hypersonic missiles annually from Castelion-with options for over 12,000 missiles over five years.

These agreements arrive at a pivotal moment of concern over the nation's weapons inventory. It responds to the pressing requirement for new systems built on modern technologies, commercial supply chains, and designs optimized for high-rate production.