By Marina Malenic
A stealthy cruise missile developed by the Air Force underwent a successful Product Upgrade Verification (PUV) flight test on Jan. 12 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., prime contractor Lockheed Martin [LMT] said last week.
The missile was released from a B-52 aircraft and successfully navigated through a preplanned route before destroying its intended target, according to the company.
“The primary test objectives of this flight were to provide final validation of a new missile control unit, recently upgraded actuator control electronics and a digital engine controller,” Lockheed Martin announced in a statement. “The upgrades enhance missile performance and eliminate the risk of future component obsolescence.”
“Flight validation of JASSM upgraded electronic subassemblies allows us to proceed with JASSM production well into the next decade,” said Alan Jackson, JASSM program director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.
After years of testing difficulties and cost growth, the Pentagon last year threatened to terminate the program unless a new round of tests demonstrated significantly better reliability. The missile succeeded in 15 of 16 tests last August–a 94 percent reliability rate. Its overall reliability rate is well over 80 percent, according to the Air Force, which is now seeking a rate of 90 percent by 2013.
The Air Force earlier this month awarded Lockheed Martin a $245 million contract to build an eighth lot of 160 more baseline and extended range JASSMs for the Air Force and foreign customers. The service eventually expects to acquire 4,900 JASSMs and JASSM-ERs.
However, in his annual report to Congress, the Pentagon’s chief weapons tester said additional flight tests were needed to prove reliability. The report also questions the Air Force’s decision to halt work on an electronic fuze for the missile. Four of 26 missiles tested in 2009 had fuze problems, according to the report.
“The Air Force should renew the pursuit of the Electronic Safe and Arm Fuze, ensuring the availability of a second fuzing option,” the report states.
According to an Air Force official, the JASSM fuze “remains a concern” and is being “upgraded for future production lots.”
Further, the JASSM program began development of an Electronic Safe and Arm Fuze (ESAF), but that program failed to produce a viable product and is currently unfunded, the official told Defense Daily. Instead, the program is upgrading the existing fuze to a more reliable configuration by “reducing the number of mechanical parts,” the official said.
“The current fuze upgrade program will improve fuze reliability at a significantly lower cost and shorter time frame than the ESAF development,” the official added. “We have multiple initiatives underway besides the fuze upgrade that will continue to increase missile reliability.”
JASSM has been demonstrated on the B-1, B-2, B-52 and F-16 aircraft. Future platforms include the F-15E, F/A-18 and F-35.
Another official familiar with the program said an electronic fuze would be difficult to use on JASSM due to the fact that the missile is designed to penetrate many feet of concrete. Developing an electronic fuze that can survive such an impact would cost “an order of magnitude more” than simply upgrading the current product, according to the source.