Well, the hottest missile startup you probably haven’t heard of is having a very exciting July.
Yesterday, missile startup CoAspire announced that the US Navy has selected a ground-launched variant of its Rapidly Adaptable Affordable Cruise Missile-Extended Range (RAACM-ER) for its Coalition Heterogeneous Affordable Offensive Strike (CHAOS) program.
Under a $70M OTA, the company “will design, build, test, and deliver…an affordable, ground-launched, mid-range, cruise missile system that can attack both land-based and moving maritime targets” for FMS to US allies and partners.
- CoAspire (and a variant of RAACM-ER called “Ghost”) was also tapped for the Low-Cost Containerized Munitions (LCCM) program back in May.
- Last week, they also signed a framework agreement with the US Air Force for the Family of Affordable Mass Missiles (FAMM) Program, also centered around RAACM.
The whole dang Pentagon is really going all-in on the whole low-cost interceptor thing, huh?
Maybe that fresh $95B will burn down ever so slightly less quickly.
Aspirational: Before we dive into CHAOS (hehe), let’s chat for a minute about CoAspire.
The company is an interesting one—it was actually founded as a defense services and consulting firm back in 2013 by Douglas J. Denneny, a former U.S. Navy F-14/F/A-18 weapon systems officer, TOPGUN instructor, and former MBDA executive.
- CoAspire says it’s been bootstrapped since its founding—the income from that consulting and services business (and later RAACM) means they haven’t had to take any external VC money.
- They started internal development of RAACM back in 2022-2023-ish, and flew it in 2025.
- They scored a developmental OTA with the Air Force under the FAMM program in late 2025, then heaped on those contracts above earlier this year.
Right on target: To get into the nitty-gritty, here’s what they’re building. Spoiler: It’s mostly based around RAACM.
- RAACM: The flagship air-launched affordable cruise missile designed for fighter aircraft and other platforms capable of carrying precision-guided munitions.
- RAACM-ER: A larger, extended-range version of RAACM with about double the range. It’s designed for air-, ground-, and ship-launch applications.
- LCCM GHOST: The ground-launched version of RAACM-ER developed for the Pentagon’s Low-Cost Containerized Missiles (LCCM) program. It uses a booster and canister launcher.
Fast friends: For this $70M award—and the CHAOS program—the Navy has its sights set on RAACM-ER.
- CHAOS is the U.S. Navy initiative to develop low-cost, ground-launched cruise missiles for allies and partners through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) process.
- The idea is to give partner nations an affordable long-range precision-strike capability—particularly against ships—while also expanding missile production in the US and reducing reliance on legacy platforms.
- CoAspire is the first publicly announced recipient—but it doesn’t sound like the Navy is stopping there. Apparently the service plans to award “at least one more” industry contract to foster competition.
Let the (foreign military sales) games begin.