By Michael Sirak
Lockheed Martin [LMT] says its JASSM stealthy cruise missile flew successfully in a flight test yesterday, according to a company spokeswoman.
“After nine consecutive successful ground tests, today’s successful flight test demonstrates our commitment to providing the Air Force with the highest quality product,” the Lockheed Martin spokeswoman told Defense Daily Dec. 20.
The Air Force did not have comment before Defense Daily went to press yesterday.
The Dec. 20 flight was the second product upgrade verification (PUV) flight test of the JASSM missile since a spate of anomalies occurred in flight tests in April that set the program’s progress back. During the previous PUV mission on Oct. 31, the Air Force said the JASSM flew successfully and detonated at the target (Defense Daily, Nov. 5).
The PUV flights are meant to validate improvements and planned upgrades to future lots of the JASSM.
Earlier this year, because of lingering reliability issues with the missile, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Air Force instituted a reliability characterization program to overcome the performance issues.
The Air Force plans one additional PUV flight before embarking on a series of 16 flight tests starting in mid February 2008 to characterize the missile for reliability, Maj. Gen. Mark Shackelford, director of Global Power Programs in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, told reporters yesterday during a briefing in the Pentagon. These tests are anticipated to conclude around the end of March 2008, he said.
After that, the JASSM program is set for review by John Young, the Pentagon’s acquisition czar, to decide on its future.
“We are very pleased with the success and progression of the JASSM reliability enhancement program,” the Lockheed Martin spokeswoman said. “The program is working hard with our suppliers and customers to enhance our reliability and improve our capabilities, while delivering an affordable weapon to our warfighters.”