WASHINGTON, Aug 27: The Pentagon obligated more than USD 67.3 million to two US defense contractors to expedite the development of the Extended Range Attack Munition (ERAM) amid recent media reports of the new missile’s imminent delivery to Ukraine, a Sputnik correspondent s analysis of contract records from the official website of the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS.gov) revealed.
Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing US officials, that the US government had approved the sale of 3,350 ERAM missiles to Ukraine. The USD850 million arms package, which also includes other items, is being largely financed by European countries. According to the report, the delivery of the first missiles was expected within about six weeks, but their use against targets in Russian territory would require case-by-case approval from the Pentagon.
Financial records from FPDS.gov revealed the Pentagon’s strategy for accelerating the ERAM’s development. The records showed that instead of a single, slow-moving contract, the Pentagon was funding two separate and parallel prototyping efforts, with significant funding obligations to bring the weapon to a production-ready stage.
CoAspire LLC, based in Fairfax, Virginia, received a total of more than USD33.8 million. The initial award on October 11, 2024, came with a USD13.2 million obligation, followed by a major funding increase of USD20 million on May 2, 2025. The company also received two smaller, incremental payments in April and May 2025 with a total value of USD550,000.
Zone 5 Technologies LLC, located in San Luis Obispo, California, received a parallel contract. Its total obligated value reached more than USD33.5 million, with the original award on October 15, 2024, obligating USD7.7 million. This was followed by an additional USD1.5 million on March 13, 2025, and a significant funding obligation of more than USD24.3 million on May 2, 2025.
The Department of the Air Force awarded the contracts through a flexible mechanism known as an “Other Transaction Agreement (OTA),” a type of deal often used to bypass traditional procurement procedures for rapid prototyping. The near-identical obligated amounts and parallel timelines for the two companies pointed to a competitive, dual-source prototyping effort by the US Air Force.
The ERAM is a co-development effort by the US and its partners, including Denmark and the Netherlands, under the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG). The program’s objective is to develop a low-cost, long-range cruise missile for mass production. Development efforts were initiated as early as February 2024 through requests for information posted on SAM.gov, the official US government website used for federal contract opportunities. These notices outlined key requirements, including a range of at least 250 nautical miles, a speed of Mach 0.6, GPS-degraded navigation, and a production goal of over 1,000 units within 24 months of award.
(UNI)
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