Long Wall’s Cyclops Missile Defence System.
Long Wall’s Cyclops Missile Defence System: December 15 — US defence technology company Long Wall has unveiled Cyclops, a new surface-launched, exoatmospheric interceptor designed to defeat ballistic missiles during their midcourse phase of flight. The company says the system is intended to deliver high performance at significantly lower cost, enabling the large interceptor inventories needed for effective homeland and regional missile defence.
Cyclops has been developed as Long Wall’s flagship interceptor, reflecting what the company describes as an urgent need to counter the growing use and proliferation of ballistic missiles. Recent conflicts have seen missile attacks carried out in unprecedented numbers, exposing a widening gap between the scale of offensive missile use and the limited production capacity and high cost of existing interceptor systems.
According to Long Wall, this imbalance threatens the credibility of missile defence by allowing attackers to overwhelm defences with sheer volume. Cyclops is intended to address this challenge by being designed for mass production from the outset, rather than adapted for scale after development.
Built for mass production
Long Wall says Cyclops is the first midcourse interceptor developed from a clean-sheet design with manufacturability as a primary requirement. The system leverages advances in autonomy, computing, optics and propulsion drawn from high-volume commercial industries, rather than traditional bespoke missile defence supply chains.
At the core of Cyclops is a modern exoatmospheric kill vehicle (EKV) that destroys targets through hit-to-kill impact rather than explosive fragmentation. The company has focused on simplifying and industrialising key EKV subsystems, particularly propulsion and seeker technologies, to avoid reliance on limited, highly specialised suppliers.
Long Wall confirmed it has already built and begun testing its first Cyclops prototype and believes the interceptor can ultimately be produced in the hundreds or thousands, rather than the dozens typical of legacy systems.
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Long Wall’s Ironwood System.
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Flexible, distributed defence
A central feature of the Cyclops concept is its ability to support distributed and layered missile defence. High costs have traditionally restricted where interceptors can be deployed and in what numbers. Long Wall aims to remove those constraints by enabling flexible basing on land or at sea.
To that end, the company has developed a containerized launching station (CLS) that can deploy Cyclops with minimal infrastructure. The launcher is designed to be inexpensive, potentially expendable, and transportable in a standard shipping container, allowing it to be placed on bare ground or aboard ships. A first CLS test unit has already been built, and Long Wall is conducting a self-funded development campaign using multiple THAAD simulator units.
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Faster, cheaper testing
Long Wall also emphasised its approach to reducing development timelines and costs through more frequent and affordable testing. The company plans to use its in-house RSX liquid booster vehicle to support flight testing, enabling rapid, routine test launches and affordable target vehicles. RSX is already being used for hypersonic flight testing and missile defence target missions.
US Defence Company Long Wall’s Shop floor.
Long Wall’s Production capacity
To support rapid fielding, Long Wall is modifying existing manufacturing lines for Cyclops development and initial production. The company says its current facilities—covering more than 160,000 square feet—could produce over 100 Cyclops interceptors per year when fully utilised.
Manufacturing capabilities include additive manufacturing, CNC machining, electronics assembly, environmental and hot-fire testing, and final integration in an ordnance-safe environment. A modular production approach using commercial machinery is intended to allow rapid scaling if demand increases.
Addressing a growing threat
Long Wall concluded that long-range missile attacks are becoming an increasingly common feature of modern conflict, driving an urgent need for more scalable missile defence solutions. With Cyclops, the company aims to restore deterrence by making advanced midcourse missile defence affordable and deployable at the scale required for today’s security environment.
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