By Marina Malenic
Lockheed Martin‘s [LMT] Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) successfully completed a round of test firings conducted last month and early this month, according to the Air Force.
Service spokeswoman Lt. Col. Karen Platt said yesterday that 15 of the 16 test shots taken at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., were successful. Platt said one missile failed to detonate while another had to be retested due to a tracking failure. She said the failure occurred on Sept. 10.
“Final results will be determined by the Test Data Scoring Board,” she added.
JASSM is a stealthy, long-range, precision cruise missile designed to destroy fixed and moving targets.
Senior Air Force officials said in May that the $6 billion program could be subject to termination if it didn’t perform well in the latest round of tests. Lockheed Martin officials said in August that they were spending tens of millions of dollars internally to improve the missile’s reliability.
Lockheed Martin released a statement saying that the tests resulted in a 94 percent success rate, exceeding the Air Force target of 90 percent.
“This successful flight test verifies JASSM as a reliable weapons system,” Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Heather Kelly said.
JASSM has been deployed in combat despite a series of testing failures. The Pentagon, however, is now looking more critically at programs suffering from cost overruns and technical difficulties as it attempts to keep budgets in check.
Meanwhile, the Air Force is continuing the development process for the JASSM-Extended Range (JASSM-ER). Lockheed Martin holds that development contract as well.