Breaking News: US and Israel join forces on new Bullseye long-range precision-guided missile.

On April 7, 2025, the U.S. company General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. Under this agreement, GA-EMS will serve as Rafael’s U.S. partner and the prime contractor for the production of the Bullseye, a long-range, precision-guided strike missile. The announcement was made by representatives from both companies at the Sea-Air-Space Conference organized by the Navy League of the United States in National Harbor, Maryland.
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The collaboration between GA-EMS and Rafael combines Rafael’s design, maturation, and testing of the Bullseye missile with GA-EMS’s manufacturing and integration infrastructure in the U.S. (Picture source: GA-EMS)

The Bullseye will be manufactured in the United States and offered to U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) customers. It is designed to meet U.S. military specifications and support a range of precision-fires missions for the DoD and allied coalition partners. The missile is intended to provide multi-platform launch capability from air, ground, and maritime systems, and is positioned to enable massed strike delivery at a reduced unit cost. GA-EMS will manufacture and integrate the missile at its facility in Tupelo, Mississippi, which functions as a manufacturing center with experience in engineering, design, integration, testing, and production of complex systems and components in support of U.S. national security programs.

Scott Forney, President of GA-EMS, stated that Bullseye would be manufactured in the United States for delivery to U.S. military customers and that the collaboration would leverage Rafael’s existing investment in missile design and testing to reduce development risk and cost while enabling production-scale delivery of a precision-guided missile. Yuval Miller, Executive Vice President and Head of Rafael’s Air & C4ISR Systems Division, said the joint effort would combine Rafael’s missile technologies with GA-EMS’s manufacturing capabilities to develop a system designed to meet evolving mission requirements with a focus on accuracy, flexibility, and affordability.

The Bullseye missile features a modular and scalable design, allowing for incremental development, system upgrades, and cross-service interoperability to address different service requirements. The missile is currently assessed at Technology Readiness Level 8 (TRL 8). Rafael has already completed testing in areas such as aerodynamics, engine performance, seeker functionality, and launch integration. Additional testing is planned to qualify the missile for flight and confirm operational readiness. Deliveries of the missile are scheduled to begin in late 2025.

The system is configured to operate in Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) environments. It incorporates multiple technical features, including Very Low Observable (VLO) characteristics under various weather conditions, advanced automatic terrain avoidance (ATA), automatic target recognition (ATR), and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-independent guidance. The missile also supports synchronized attack capability, advanced mission planning, and autonomous flight operations, with the option for human decision intervention (man-in-the-loop backup).

The Bullseye is compatible with multiple launch platforms, including jet fighters, light attack aircraft, helicopters, small maritime vessels, and ground vehicles. Its design allows for the integration of various warhead payloads and propulsion configurations, enabling adaptation to different mission profiles. These include deep-strike scenarios, anti-ship and anti-surface missions, electronic warfare, and decoy operations. The missile system is designed to provide long-range strike capability against selected target sets across multiple domains, while offering cost-efficiency through its modularity and scalability. The collaboration between GA-EMS and Rafael combines Rafael’s design, maturation, and testing of the Bullseye system with GA-EMS’s manufacturing and integration infrastructure in the U.S. The objective is to provide a production-scale delivery capability aligned with U.S. military operational and logistical requirements.