The Red Wolf missiles will provide marine rotary-wing platforms with long-range precision strike capability, enabling affordable combat mass for surface attacks in a maritime theater.
L3Harris and Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAR) announced on January 30, 2026 a major advance in the Precision Attack Strike Munition (PASM) program for the US Marine Corps, with an $86.2 million grant to develop, test and manufacture the Red Wolf launch effects vehicle.
The contract calls for L3Harris to deliver all units, manuals, training, support equipment and test equipment for the AH-1Z Viper attack helicopter (the main missile carrier platform that has been testing the weapon for some years) by the end of fiscal year 2027. The number of missiles to be produced has not been disclosed.
While L3Harris identified the specific system as Red Wolf and NAVAIR mentioned the cost, the latter also mentioned that this was an award from another authority/transaction agreement (OTA). The Time-Sensitive Direct Attack Weapons Program Office (PMA-242) chose this route “to expedite research and development and prototype development.”
L3Harris also said the systems have undergone 52 fire tests so far, but did not mention specific numbers for each Red and Green Wolf variant.
More reach. More precision. More lethality: The @USMC The new Precision Attack Munition (PASM) is accelerating! After successful tests carried out by #HX21 In 2025, the Navy awarded L3Harris Technologies the contract to bring this weapon to our AH-1Z Viper fleet. pic.twitter.com/es0sccb2IC
— NAVAIR (@NAVAIRNews) February 2, 2026
L3Harris and NAVAIR also launched a new image of two of the missiles under the short wings of an AH-1Z Viper from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (HX) 21, capturing a closer frontal shot. According to DVIDS details, the image was taken on September 9, 2025 and posted on February 2, 2026, and was from a test that took place in late 2025 off the coast of Virginia, according to the caption.
This test may be part of the “low altitude test firing” that L3Harris had announced December 19, 2025. L3Harris previously said that this test will take place in September 2025.
Critical and profitable mass for asymmetric threats
L3Harris President and CEO Christopher Kubasik said the Red Wolf fills a “gap in modern warfare with long-range precision weapons capabilities,” reflected in “recent conflicts and incursions into NATO airspace, particularly with the increased use of mass-produced drones.” This “demonstrates the urgent need for cost-effective alternatives to exquisite munitions,” with the Red Wolf bringing the “affordable mass to the Navy’s advanced munitions arsenal.”
We have been selected by @NAVAIRNews develop, test and manufacture Red Wolf™ vehicles for @USMCThe Precision Attack Strike Munition program, which enhances long-range precision weapons capabilities crucial to modern warfare. More information: https://t.co/GL177lB1vv pic.twitter.com/MBj7x6eEwl
– L3Harris (@L3HarrisTech) January 30, 2026
The Marines have long sought a weapon that has a longer range than the extended-range variants of the Hellfire, such as the AGM-114R-4 or the ‘MR’ variant of the JAGM, which can reach ranges of 21 miles and 10 miles, respectively. L3Harris puts the Red and Green Wolf’s range at more than 200 nautical miles at low altitudes and an endurance of more than 60 minutes, “far exceeding the single-digit range of other rocket-launched missiles.”
“Beyond line-of-sight system communication and over-the-horizon autonomous engagements will dramatically increase the number of aircraft available for strike missions,” the company added. Meanwhile, NAVAIR emphasized that the contract is “a critical component of the Marine Corps’ vision to improve the lethality and survivability of its helicopter assets.”
NAVAIR, in all of its press releases about the program since 2025, has emphasized the missile’s role in maritime strike. It primarily involves firing the missile at PLA Navy surface combatants, to achieve light hits that incapacitate the main sensor masts, according to L3Harris concept videos, ahead of what could be larger follow-on anti-ship operations by naval fighters.
Previous US Marine Corps exercises have used AGM-179 JAGM missiles fired from AH-1Z Vipers against a maritime target in the Indo-Pacific. NAVAIR said the PASM offers the Marine Corps a “precision, cost-effective, longer-range weapon” for various “kinetic and non-kinetic effects” of “AH-1Z aircraft in land and maritime environments.”
With 45 flights and counting, Red Wolf™ and Green Wolf™ ensure warfighters have a critical advantage on the battlefield when it matters most. More information: https://t.co/FS2PrpoJCx #AUSA2025 pic.twitter.com/het0wEiJBh
– L3Harris (@L3HarrisTech) October 7, 2025
Marines and L3Harris conducted the 52nd Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD) tests to acquire the final PASM system, demonstrating its ability to enable a “low-altitude rotary-wing aircraft to conduct offensive anti-surface warfare and maritime strikes.” These demonstrations ultimately informed the latest contract.
Capt. Lindsey Buzzell, PMA-242 program manager, called the use of an OTA contract “a key part of this strategy, designed to rapidly prototype and deploy a capability that is essential for operations in contested environments and against advanced adversaries.”
Clearer view of the missiles.
The missiles now also have a better view, offering a clearer view of the design configuration compared to previous images from NAVAIR and L3Harris. At the same time, they present some divergences with the real examples and versions previously published by the company.
The wait is over.
Introducing Red Wolf ᵀᴹ and Green Wolf ᵀᴹ, the first vehicles in our expanding suite of released effects systems. pic.twitter.com/d4oG7fgeE4
– L3Harris (@L3HarrisTech) July 17, 2025
The Red Wolf and Green Wolf missiles are aimed at kinetic and non-kinetic electronic warfare respectively, to be used in maritime warfare scenarios. They are collectively described as the Long Range Strike Missile (LRAM), part of the PASM Program of Record (PoR). At the time of the September 2025 test, L3Harris had said it had conducted 45 test firings for “multiple DoD customers” and had matured the design over the course of the campaign.
This explains the noticeable differences between L3Harris’s official presentations of the Red Wolf and Green Wolf and actual examples: the November 2024 test of the AH-1Z Viper at the Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona, the US Army’s multinational exercise Project Capstone 4 Convergence in 2024, and the aforementioned September 2025 test over the Atlantic Proving Ground.
#ICYMI Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF) was successfully executed at the Yuma Proving Grounds in Yuma, AZ, in November 2024. The event was completed with an AH-1Z Viper launching a single weapon via a wireless application. #CreateAnImpact #MarineCorpsAviation https://t.co/jpvGJEDwjR pic.twitter.com/RBksnVLsup
— NAVAIR (@NAVAIRNews) February 14, 2025
For one thing, the lower bulge that was assessed as a ventral air inlet now appears to be the center of the two deployable wings, a feature clearly seen on official units and in graphic illustrations by L3Harris. The Red and Green Wolf featured by L3Harris has a plus-shaped tail, while the actual missiles beneath the AH-1Zs have an X-shaped tail. The latter image also appears to show the scoop-shaped nose seen on L3Harris concepts and display units.
