Long Wall’s Cyclops, a surface-launched interceptor designed to destroy missiles outside Earth’s atmosphere, is set to complete flight testing with funding from the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). Long Wall announced the $75 million award Oct. 22 and says it will add another $75 million of private funds.Cyclops is built to engage ballistic missiles during their midcourse phase, when they spend much of their flight outside the atmosphere. The advanced missiles it targets travel at extreme speeds and deploy countermeasures, according to Long Wall. It is intended for homeland and regional missile defense, with lower cost and mass production central to the design.A hit-to-kill designCyclops carries an exoatmospheric kill vehicle that destroys its target by direct collision rather than blast fragmentation. Long Wall says the kill vehicle’s propulsion and seeker can make or break mass production, so it has focused its cost reduction work there.The company has built a first prototype kill vehicle and begun testing it. It says it is confident Cyclops can be manufactured in the hundreds or thousands, rather than dozens, to achieve magazine depth for missile defense.Launchers in shipping containersLong Wall has designed a containerized launching station that can fire Cyclops from sites with little support, whether on bare ground or a ship’s deck. The company says the launcher is cheap enough to be functionally expendable and fits in a shipping container that can be moved or left alone at many locations.In December 2025, Long Wall said it had built a first launcher test unit and was running a self-funded development campaign using six THAAD simulators.Cheaper flight test campaignFlight testing is a major driver of interceptor development cost, so Long Wall plans to use RSX, its in-house liquid booster vehicle, for Cyclops flights and target missions. RSX also serves hypersonic flight test and missile defense target missions.The company says that approach can make test flights cheap, highly available and routine, and easy to move around the globe, which should accelerate Cyclops development.Scaling production capacityLong Wall is modifying existing production lines for Cyclops development and initial production. Its existing facilities of more than 160,000 square feet (14,900 square meters) could produce more than 100 Cyclops rounds per year when fully utilized.Across three major facilities, Long Wall now reports development, test and production infrastructure spanning more than 180,000 square feet (16,700 square meters) and 100 acres (40 hectares).The work combines 3D printing, CNC machining, welding, electronics assembly, environmental and hot-fire testing and vehicle integration in an ordnance-safe environment. Long Wall says its modular approach uses commercial machinery wherever possible so it can scale rapidly during surges in demand.CEO Dan Piemont said demand for interceptors has surged while low production capacity and high unit costs remain major challenges to replenishing expanded magazine depth. Cyclops, he said, brings “a clean sheet design and a new approach.” Long Wall began developing Cyclops in 2024 and introduced it publicly in December 2025. The company is headquartered in Long Beach, California, with operations in California, Alaska and Alabama.Harry O’Hanley, co-founder and chairman, said GPUs and advances in optics and propulsion manufacturing make now a good time to build a mass-producible interceptor.