AGM-86 ALCM
OEM: Boeing
First Produced: 1982
Status: Active
Role: Air-launched nuclear cruise missile (being retired)
Primary Operator: U.S. Air Force
OEM Website: boeing.com
The AGM-86B Air-Launched Cruise Missile is the legacy nuclear cruise missile carried exclusively by the B-52H Stratofortress. Each B-52H can carry up to twenty ALCMs across an internal rotary launcher and wing pylons, and the missile couples terrain-following flight with a W80-1 variable-yield warhead produced by NNSA.
The ALCM was fielded in 1982 with an intended fifteen-year service life. Multiple extensions have kept it operational into the 2020s, but the missile is being phased out as the AGM-181 LRSO enters service in the late 2020s. The conventional AGM-86C/D variants were retired by 2019 in favor of JASSM.
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