Long Wall Gets $75M MDA Award for Cyclops Tests

Long Wall, the California start-up formerly known as ABL Space Systems, says the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has awarded it $75 million to complete flight testing of Cyclops, its low-cost interceptor for hitting missiles midway through their flight.

The company announced the award on its news page on Wednesday, saying it began developing Cyclops in 2024. Breaking Defense reported that Long Wall will match the government money. Quoting the company’s release, it said: “Throughout the period of performance, Long Wall will invest an additional $75 million at private expense to continue Cyclops design and development.”

“I think it’s a first of its kind award in long-range missile defense, and a substantive commitment,” founder Dan Piedmont told the publication. Long Wall referred questions about the contract’s length to the MDA, which had not responded by the time Breaking Defense published.

Cyclops is built to be made in hundreds, not dozens

Long Wall unveiled Cyclops in December 2025 as a surface-launched, exoatmospheric interceptor, one that works above the atmosphere during the midcourse phase of a missile’s flight. Its kill vehicle destroys targets by hitting them directly rather than with a fragmentation blast.

The company’s pitch is about volume. It said then that it was confident Cyclops “can be manufactured in the hundreds or thousands – not dozens”. It also said its existing facilities of more than 160,000 square feet could produce “over one hundred Cyclops rounds per year” when fully used. Breaking Defense notes that the liquid-fuelled design relies mainly on commercial off-the-shelf parts and 3D printing.

Cyclops is designed to launch from a containerised station that fits in a shipping container, so it can fire from bare ground or a ship’s deck. For testing, Long Wall plans to use RSX, its own in-house liquid booster, to make flight tests and targets cheaper and easier to arrange.

From rockets to missile defence in under two years

Long Wall was formally set up in February 2025 as a rebrand of ABL, which had been trying to build small launch rockets, and narrowed its focus to missile defence.

The interceptor would occupy the same midcourse role as the Ground-Based Interceptor, the system built by Northrop Grumman that is deployed today. The MDA is also funding cheaper options for the last phase of flight: in August it gave X-Bow Systems almost $11 million to flight-test a solid-fuel low-cost interceptor, Breaking Defense reported.

A matched award shifts the risk on to the company

The structure is the story here. By matching the MDA’s $75 million with its own, Long Wall is in effect co-funding a government test programme, an arrangement that looks closer to a commercial space contract than a classic interceptor programme. For the agency, the deal buys flight-test data on a mass-production concept at half the headline cost. For Long Wall, it buys credibility, but it also means the company carries much of the financial risk if a test fails.

That bet follows a market that has moved quickly. Cheap interceptors have gone from niche to crowded over the past year, from Anduril’s Steelfin missiles to CHAOS Industries’ VESPID family and the BAE APKWS counter-drone framework, as militaries look for ways to stop expensive interceptors running short. Long Wall is pushing that logic into long-range ballistic missile defence, which is the hardest part of the problem.

There is a large gap between a funded test campaign and a fielded interceptor. Neither source gives a unit price, a test schedule or a contract length. The production figures are Long Wall’s own. Until the MDA says more, the award looks like a sign of interest in the concept rather than a commitment to buy.

The figure to watch is the first intercept test, not the size of the cheque.