By Ann Roosevelt
After test misses, the Lockheed Martin [LMT] Joint Air-To-Ground Missile (JAGM) “performed flawlessly,” in a company-funded flight test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., last week, a top company official said.
The test pitted the JAGM and its tri-mode cooled seeker using the imaging infrared (I2R) sensor to lock on before launch against a stationary main battle tank, while using a millimeter wave (MMW) radar sensor to track a moving tank in the background. The laser designator also illuminated one of targets.
“As far as we can tell, everything performed flawlessly,” said Frank St. John, vice president-Tactical Missiles, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.
Lockheed Martin is competing against Raytheon [RTN] and its partner Boeing [BA] on the potential $5 billion program. The technology demonstration program is wrapping up while a request for proposals for the 48-month System Development and Demonstration, or engineering and manufacturing development (EMD), phase can be expected by the end of the year, with a contract award potentially in the second quarter of the coming calendar year.
The Raytheon team hit the target three out of three times in government-funded tests, while Lockheed Martin missed two out of three times, triggering the Nov. 17 company-funded test.
St. John said system performance in last week’s test “was nominal, including lock-on-before launch at the six-kilometer range, we had good track, we launched the weapon we tracked the target all the way through to impact and simultaneously we tracked the secondary moving target in the background with the millimeter wave sensor.”
Beyond a successful engagement, the test “proved the corrective action that we implemented from our previous flight test and because of the range at which we locked on we believe we demonstrated the discrimination of our seeker technology from that of our competitor,” St. John said yesterday in a teleconference.
Raytheon uses an uncooled seeker in its competing missile.
The test also confirmed the validity of the production representative missile, which carried a telemetry package instead of a warhead in the test. The warhead has been demonstrated separately in a variety of tests and is in the process of being integrated on the Hellfire missile system, he said.
Part of the company’s effort is to reduce technical and program risk for the EMD program.
The company also is considering another test in the coming year, St. John said.
JAGM is to eventually replace legacy Maverick, air-launched TOW and Hellfire missiles. The new missile will first be integrated on the F/A-18 E/F, AH-64 Apache and AH-1Z helicopters, with initial operational capability expected in 2016. The next year would see the Army Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Gray Eagle receive the missile as would the MH-60R and OH-58D helicopters.