Good day, FighterSweep faithful! We stumbled on this pretty cool video from the folks at Lockheed-Martin. The video depicts their long range anti-ship missile or LRASM, (if you didn’t deduce that from the title) and shows off some of its advanced capabilities.
The LRASM (AGM-158C) is the next iteration in the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) line, following the JASSM-ER (AGM-158B). The technology in LRASM will minimize a dependence on GPS navigation, network links, and ISR platforms in very aggressive electronic warfare environments. The advanced guidance operation means the weapon can/will use gross target cueing data to find and destroy its pre-defined target in denied environments.
Lockheed Martin is currently working on the Accelerated Acquisition for the LRASM Deployment Office. The contract further matures technologies that will be delivered as an early operational capability in the B-1B and F/A-18E/F in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Integration has already begun on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Fit and mass properties checks were conducted at Pax River Naval Base with the U.S. Navy and captive-carry flight tests took place in late 2015. Lockheed Martin has also invested its own company funds into reducing the risk of a surface-launch variant that will be used by the VLS currently in the Navy’s fleet.
The circled area shows where an LRASM directly hit its target. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)