Cruise Missile Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Opportunity, and Forecast, 2021-2031

The Global Cruise Missile Market is projected to experience significant growth, expanding from USD 6.39 billion in 2025 to USD 10.57 billion by 2031 at a CAGR of 8.75%. Cruise missiles are characterized as guided, self-propelled projectiles that utilize aerodynamic lift to operate within the atmosphere, delivering precision payloads at various speeds and altitudes. The market's expansion is primarily driven by escalating geopolitical tensions and the critical need for nations to modernize their strategic defense capabilities with advanced long-range strike systems. Data from the Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe highlights this trend, noting that defense sector turnover rose by 13.8 percent in 2024, reflecting a substantial increase in investments toward military readiness and equipment procurement amidst global instability.

However, a major obstacle hindering the broader expansion of the cruise missile market is the fragility of the specialized supply chain necessary for manufacturing these complex systems. The limited availability of essential high-tech components and raw materials frequently results in severe production bottlenecks and inflated development costs. These supply chain issues often cause delays in delivery schedules and restrict manufacturers' ability to satisfy the rapidly increasing global demand, thereby creating challenges in meeting the strategic requirements of the market.

Market Drivers

The Global Expansion of Defense Budgets and Expenditure acts as a primary catalyst for the Global Cruise Missile Market, as nations aggressively boost financial allocations to address rising geopolitical instability. Governments are prioritizing the acquisition of advanced munitions to ensure combat readiness, directing a surge of capital toward offensive and defensive missile systems. This fiscal growth enables defense departments to launch large-scale acquisition contracts and maintain modernization efforts despite broader economic pressures. For example, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reported in April 2025 that global military expenditure increased by 9.4 percent in real terms during 2024, reaching a record $2.7 trillion, a level of spending that directly facilitates the continuous development and deployment of cruise missile arsenals worldwide.

Simultaneously, the Growing Demand for Long-Range Precision Strike Capabilities is reshaping market dynamics, driven by the strategic imperative to neutralize high-value targets from standoff distances. Military doctrines are increasingly focusing on systems that enable forces to strike adversaries while remaining beyond the range of enemy air defenses, thereby enhancing platform survivability and operational effectiveness. This shift is evident in national procurement strategies that heavily favor extended-range guided weapons. For instance, IP Defense Forum reported in January 2025 that the Japanese government allocated $6 billion in its 2025 defense budget for a standoff defense system, while Flight Global noted in March 2025 that European manufacturer MBDA secured record orders totaling €13.8 billion in 2024, underscoring the robust global demand for precision strike solutions.

Market Challenges

The fragility of the specialized supply chain serves as a significant impediment to the growth of the Global Cruise Missile Market. These complex weapon systems depend heavily on a tiered network of suppliers for precision-engineered components, such as advanced propulsion units, guidance sensors, and high-grade composite materials. When essential raw materials become scarce or specialized sub-components encounter production delays, the entire manufacturing process is stalled. This vulnerability limits the industrial base's capacity to scale up production rapidly, preventing manufacturers from fulfilling the urgent strategic requirements of defense agencies on schedule and creating a backlog that stifles revenue realization and market expansion.

This issue is further exacerbated by the reliance on a limited number of qualified vendors, creating single points of failure within the production ecosystem. According to the National Defense Industrial Association, 49 percent of private sector respondents in the defense industrial base identified single or sole-source suppliers as their most critical supply chain vulnerability in 2024. This high level of dependence means that a disruption at a single niche supplier can ripple through the entire value chain, causing severe delays and inflating development costs. Such instability not only hampers the delivery of existing orders but also constrains the market's ability to capitalize on rising global defense budgets, as manufacturers struggle to stabilize their logistics against these structural weaknesses.

Market Trends

The acceleration of hypersonic cruise missile development marks a critical evolution in strategic strike capabilities, driven by the necessity to penetrate advanced anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) networks. Unlike traditional subsonic systems, scramjet-powered hypersonic missiles sustain speeds exceeding Mach 5 while maneuvering within the atmosphere, making interception by existing air defense architectures extremely difficult. This operational advantage has compelled nations to transition rapidly from research prototypes to fielded programs, leading to substantial funding increases for air-breathing propulsion technologies. As reported by Defence Industry Europe in September 2025, the U.S. Air Force has intensified its focus on the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM), with budget requests for the program rising to over $800 million for fiscal year 2026 to expedite its operational deployment.

At the same time, the market is witnessing a paradigm shift toward the development of affordable and expendable missile solutions, aiming to address stockpile shortages and the prohibitive costs of "exquisite" precision munitions. Defense industrial strategies are increasingly prioritizing mass-producible systems that utilize commercial off-the-shelf components and additive manufacturing to ensure rapid replenishment during high-intensity conflicts. This trend focuses on overwhelming adversary defenses through volume rather than solely relying on individual platform survivability. Reflecting this industrial pivot, National Defense Magazine reported in September 2025 that Anduril Industries announced plans to expand its manufacturing capacity to produce up to 5,000 Barracuda-500 autonomous cruise missiles annually by the end of 2026.

Key Players Profiled in the Cruise Missile Market

• Lockheed Martin Corporation
• RTX Corporation
• Northrop Grumman Corporation
• The Boeing Company
• MBDA Inc.
• L3Harris Technologies, Inc.
• Kongsberg Gruppen ASA
• Roketsan A.S.
• RAFAEL Advanced Defense Systems Ltd.
• BAE Systems PLC

Report Scope

In this report, the Global Cruise Missile Market has been segmented into the following categories:

Cruise Missile Market, by Launch Platform:

• Air
• Surface Combatants
• Submarine
• and Land

Cruise Missile Market, by Range:

• Short-Range Missiles
• Medium-Range Missiles
• and Long-Range Missiles

Cruise Missile Market, by Speed:

• Subsonic
• Supersonic
• and Hypersonic

Cruise Missile Market, by Region:

• North America
• Europe
• Asia-Pacific
• South America
• Middle East & Africa

Competitive Landscape

Company Profiles: Detailed analysis of the major companies present in the Global Cruise Missile Market.

Available Customization

The analyst offers customization according to your specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:

• Detailed analysis and profiling of additional market players (up to five).

This product will be delivered within 1-3 business days.