The CMMT Fast Track to Flight

In today's rapidly evolving threat environment, the ability to develop and deploy advanced aerospace systems quickly and effectively at a low cost is crucial. The traditional project management triangle mantra is "You can have it fast, cheap or good. Pick any two." But with the power of transformational tools and a culture of speed and agility, Lockheed Martin is getting close to achieving all three.

Case in point, Lockheed Martin’s family of Common Multi-Mission Truck air vehicles, or CMMT (pronounced “comet”) for short. In missile development years, they are mere babes. But this May and June, two Lockheed Martin teams tested CMMT air vehicles in tactical flight environments at two Oregon ranges.

CMMT-D Deploys from Rapid Dragon Cell 

In May, a team from Orlando, Florida traveled to the Tillamook UAS Test Range on the Oregon coast to test CMMT-D, a compact cruise missile designed to deploy from air mobility aircraft like the C-130. They dropped a CMMT-D test missile from a Rapid Dragon pallet, which was carried by a helicopter to an altitude of 14,500 feet to simulate a parachute descent. The CMMT-D deployed its wings and entered an unpowered glide following a safe release.

The team plotted a swift development trajectory, achieving first flight in just 10 months from initial concept design. Par for the course for the award-winning team that put the “rapid” in “Rapid Dragon” by getting palletized effects to the same milestone from a clean start, also in 10 months.

Rapid Dragon has deployed fielded cruise missiles over several years of demonstrations. This was its first deployment of a compact air vehicle in a tactically representative airborne environment.

 CMMT-X Air-Launches from Pylon 

In June, a CMMT team from Palmdale, California, traveled to the Pendleton UAS Range in Oregon to test CMMT-X, a smaller variant of the CMMT family. They mounted CMMT-X to the pylon of a test aircraft and took to the skies for CMMT’s first pylon launch from an airborne aircraft. The vehicle safely separated from the launch craft, deployed its wings and lit its engine to initiate powered flight.

The team built CMMT-X on the foundations of SPEED RACER, which was launched in 2020 to explore the feasibility of expendable-class systems. Using model-based engineering, the team rapidly evolved SPEED RACER into CMMT-X, rewriting software to meet U.S. Air Force weapon open systems architecture standards and ground testing to ensure airworthiness, all within a record time of just seven months. That’s the power of agile development and digital engineering.

The Fast and the Frugal 

So, how close does CMMT come to achieving all three sides of the project management triangle of fast, cheap and good? Developing in an all-digital design is how Lockheed Martin achieves speed. With both CMMT designs going from program start to flight in under a year, the company is checking the "fast" box. And by starting with a foundation of mature digital designs, Lockheed Martin is also delivering on “cheap” and “good.”

As part of a multi-million-dollar transformation investment, Lockheed Martin is moving its design ecosystem into the digital realm to accelerate development and production and maximize reuse of all-digital missile systems and software architectures. CMMT is one of the first programs to benefit from this evolution.

By tapping into internal catalogs of proven designs and systems, the team reduced the time required to get to a CMMT-D preliminary design review—a major program milestone—by 50 percent. And CMMT-X’s boost from SPEED RACER enabled the team to move from development to powered flight in a single test.

CMMT makes a great missile, but that’s not all it can do. Bringing CMMT to maturity also lays the foundation and reduces risk for future unmanned aircraft missions. Its flight-tested design and developed architecture could be quickly adapted for low-cost collaborative combat aircraft applications should those requirements move forward.

By kickstarting CMMT-X via SPEED RACER and applying commonality to a new CMMT-D design, Lockheed Martin is burning down risk, accelerating development and boosting maturity, saving time and money. The company is starting with systems that engineering teams have already proven and that customers don't need to pay for again. This is agile synergy that Lockheed Martin, with its broad portfolio of proven products and deep bench of engineering talent, can deliver.

As the aerospace industry continues to evolve, one thing is clear—the ability to develop and deploy advanced systems quickly, effectively, at a low cost—will be a key differentiator. Lockheed Martin's CMMT is leading the way, and its impact will be felt for years to come.