LRASM moves forward with successful test firing

[Zarvan]

The sixth successful live firing of the LRAASM brings the USN's early ASuW Increment 1 capability a step closer. Source: US Navy

The air-launched Lockheed Martin AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) is on course to provide the US Navy (USN) with an early anti-surface warfare (ASuW) Increment 1 capability following a sixth successful test firing announced by the company on 19 March.

The test saw two production-standard LRASMs launched from a US Air Force (USAF) Rockwell B-1B Lancer bomber impact a maritime target, demonstrating the system’s consistency and reliability.

As noted by Lockheed Martin, the LRASM is designed to meet the ASuW needs of the USN and USAF in contested environments. The air-launched variant provides an early operational capability for the USN’s offensive ASuW Increment 1 requirement to be integrated on board the USAF’s B-1B (up to 24 missiles in its internal weapons bay), in 2018 and on the USN’s Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet (eight missiles on its underwing pylons) in 2019.

For the US military, the introduction into service of the LRASM cannot come soon enough. Last year, the commander of the US Pacific Command said that the LRASM is needed as quickly as possible in response to the growing maritime threat in the region from Russia and China. Speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee in February 2016, Admiral Harry Harris said that LRASM “is a great capability we need to bring on line fast”.

Developed as a successor to the Lockheed Martin AGM-158A Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-off Missile (JASSM) and AGM-158B JASSM-Extended Range (ER) missiles currently fielded, the LRASM is a stealthy subsonic cruise missile that differs slightly from these earlier systems in some undisclosed aspects of its propulsion and sensor systems while retaining the basic form of its predecessors. Besides the JASSM and JASSM-ER, the LRASM will also replace the AGM-84 Harpoon.

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