SOCOM taps Aeon for limited run of shoulder-fired Zeus with $13.8M deal

WASHINGTON — US Special Operations Command has tapped Aeon Industrial to produce a limited run of a new, developmental shoulder-fired version of its Zeus missile and launcher, the company told Breaking Defense. 

Under a recent $13.8 million low-rate initial production deal, the company said it will deliver less than 100 of the weapons to SOCOM over the next year. The system, which the company says is around 20 pounds with a 30-inch-long weapon, is designed to be fired primarily in confined and urban environments. 

“Rather than wait for requirements, we went directly to warfighters and built around what they told us they needed most: precision, less weight, modularity, and availability,” Aeon CEO Naweed Tahmas told Breaking Defense this week. “We invested our own capital to build it because no operator in the modern era should have to depend on 30-plus year-old unguided weapons.”

This is the first time that the US has purchased the shoulder-fired version Zeus that includes the missile and the tube it is launched out of. The US military has been using unguided systems like the M72 LAW for decades, while also turning to more expensive, guided systems like the Javelin. Aeon is now pushing Zeus as a possible lower-cost alternative to legacy guided systems.

SOCOM did not respond to questions about any additional companies under similar contracts, the Zeus order numbers, or plans to test out the system. However, SOCOM is famous for having quick-response acquisition authorities that lets it buy and test weapons at a pace faster than other parts of the US military.

Tahmas explained that the baseline weapon is designed to be “modular,” meaning operators can swap out the weapon’s warheads and seekers in the field without tools, depending on if they want to use the missile to target armored vehicles, personnel, drones, or other threats.

“The same system is designed to launch from the shoulder, a vehicle, a surface vessel, or a drone, without reconfiguration, using a removable control collar for quick mounting and dismounting,” he said. “A team can configure one precision platform for the mission at hand, employ it from the launch configuration that fits the situation, and take on new capabilities as threats evolve.”

Tahmus claimed that the Army and other Department of Defense “partners” have conducted “extensive development and live-fire testing” with Zeus, and that the company has received additional contracts to integrate the weapon onto unmanned surface vessels and for counter-drone applications.

However, the SOCOM deal represents a significant milestone in advancing the shoulder-fired Zeus configuration into production and delivery, building on an established record of development, testing, and execution.

“The program is focused on qualifying and delivering a production-capable system that meets special operations requirements,” Tahmas said. “Testing and operator evaluations will validate performance in operationally representative environments, while feedback from special operators will drive refinements to the user interface, handling, and capabilities as threats evolve.”