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Air Force, Lockheed: JASSM OK to continue

The future of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile seemed in doubt last year because of severe cost overruns and four failed flight tests in a span of a few days.

But the Air Force and Lockheed Martin said the program is back on target, with a batch of the stealthy cruise missiles delivered in July and a contract for an additional 111 awarded in June.

And the reliability issues have been solved, according to Air Force and Lockheed officials. The development team flew 16 flight tests in four days in February, and 14 of them were successful.

Such success could not have been predicted in 2007, when four missile tests failed between April 30 and May 1. The development team determined three of the failures were caused by faulty Global Positioning System guidance and one by a faulty fuse.

The Defense Department then put the program on hold, prompting many to declare it doomed.

The Air Force and Lockheed team completed a thorough program review, including the operations of all parts suppliers for the missiles, said Lt. Col. Gregory McNew, deputy program manager for JASSM and commander of the 676th Armament Systems Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

They were able to come up with fixes to the GPS and fuse, which led to a series of ground tests late last year and the successful operational tests in February.

The Pentagon then gave the go-ahead for the program to resume May 2.

JASSM did not lose funding because of its earlier failures. The program got $156.5 million in the 2007 budget and another $160 million in fiscal 2008. The president’s fiscal 2009 budget proposal includes $240.3 million for the missile program. The $68 million cost of rehabbing the program was split between Lockheed and the Air Force.

JASSM is designed to cruise autonomously, use an infrared seeker and an improved anti-jam GPS receiver to find its target, and use its stealthy airframe to elude air defenses.

With the program back in business, more advanced versions of JASSM are in the works.

One new version, called JASSM-ER, will have a range of more than 500 nautical miles instead of more than 200 for the baseline version. Production of JASSM-ER is expected in 2010.

An anti-ship JASSM could be fielded in 2013. It has a more sophisticated guidance system that allows it to hit moving targets, such as ground vehicles.

Staff writer Gayle Putrich contributed to this report.