The service, which had expected to award a contract in fiscal year 2015, attributes the delay to budget constraints.
The latest delay follows a two-year delay, from 2013 to 2015.
The LRSO programme seeks to develop a weapon that can penetrate and survive integrated air defence systems.
LRSO weapons would be carried by the service’s future long-range strike bomber (LRS-B), which the service hopes to field by the mid-2020s.
The USAF is required to have an operational LRSO weapon by around 2030, before the service retires its nuclear and conventionally armed Boeing AGM-86B air-launched cruise missiles.
The USAF has said it plans to extend the service life of those weapons, which are typically launched from Boeing B-52 aircraft, until at least 2030.
flightglobal
