By Geoff Fein
Using their own internal research and development funds, Raytheon [RTN] and Boeing [BA] fired the first Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) during a test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., earlier this month, the companies said.
The JAGM shot took place April 2. The missile was equipped with a full-up seeker and was fired from a ground-mounted M299 rocket launcher, Mike Riley, Raytheon senior business development manager for JAGM, told sister publication Defense Daily recently.
JAGM performed a series of pre-programmed maneuvers and flew to a predesignated location, validating the flight control software and Brimstone airframe.
The round flew 16 kilometers and achieved all primary test objectives, Riley added.
The test was done in advance of the two companies handing over six JAGM prototypes to the Army.
“They will fire for score starting in late June and early July and finish up in August,” Riley said.
JAGM will go to preliminary design review (PDR) in June. After PDR, the Army will deliver a final request for proposals to the team for the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD).
EMD will mark the beginning of Phase II and should begin around January ’11. Phase II will run for a little over four years, he noted.
“Phase III is full-rate production,” Riley said.
Up to this point, the team has finished the three major subcomponents the JAGM design and started building missiles, Riley added.
For Raytheon, that means they have completed JAGM’s common trimode seeker, which includes millimeter wave, un-cooled infrared (IR) for imaging IR, and a semi active laser.
“Advances in technology since the joint common missile allowed us to get rid of the cooled IR and all of its trappings, to reduce the complexity and cost of our seeker and reduce total ownership cost (TOC) for the warfighter,” Riley said.
And dropping the cooled IR also enabled the Boeing-Raytheon team to realize a significant amount of weight loss on the missile, he added.
“Our design has growth space. One of the desirable requirements the Army and Navy put on the missile is to have growth potential,” Riley said. “By reducing weight and eliminating components, it gave us the space we were looking for. It is a phenomenal breakthrough in our design.”
Raytheon is in the process of completing captive flight tests of the seeker in Arizona to finish proofing out the fully integrated seeker, Riley added.
Another TOC piece is having one rocket motor said, Steve Sherrick, Boeing senior business development manager for JAGM.
Boeing’s motor enables JAGM to be launched from a helicopter or survive the subfreezing temperatures of being carried and launched from a F-18E/F aircraft, he said.
“We have done a lot of hard work in the past 18 months on that and have come up with a motor that will survive those low temperatures and meet all the range requirements,” Sherrick said. “That’s a key thing from the engine perspective.”