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The Air Force plans to award a five-year contract to combine multiple follow-on efforts for the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile's extended-range variant, in order to address outdated parts of Lockheed Martin's JASSM-ER and add new capabilities for future production lots.
The service said in a May 16 sources-sought notice, "the weapon's electronics, hardware, and operational flight software changes must be holistically approached to leverage design, engineering, and test activities" at a system level. The notice tells companies to contact Lockheed about subcontracting opportunities.
In a May 18 email from a spokeswoman, Jason Denney, Lockheed's long-range strike systems program director, said the notice marks the start of a development effort to improve JASSM-ER performance.
"Lockheed Martin has already started looking at the engineering and aerodynamic improvements for future wing designs to support increased range," Denney wrote. "Additional studies, testing, and qualification will include software and hardware upgrades, as well as a new missile control unit to support the missile upgrades."
"Lockheed Martin has a dedicated development team working this project, providing uninterrupted production support at all levels," he added.
According to the sources-sought notice, the "group one" contract for completely assembled missiles includes systems engineering and program changes to streamline and phase design, development, integration, testing and verification of new components and subsystems for JASSM-ER's baseline electronics, hardware, firmware and operational flight software.
"Group one shall also include preparation for final [all-up-round] integration, system-level ground and flight testing, and qualification," the Air Force notice stated. "This effort shall concurrently mature a new missile control unit, new wings and chine, and the [anti-jam GPS] receiver, and necessary hardware and infrastructure to support group one production cut-in."
New hardware and software will be added to the missiles in the "earliest production lot possible," Denney said. Last month, the company negotiated a price for Lot 15, which will include 360 JASSM-ER units, Inside the Air Force previously reported.
Alan Jackson, vice president of strike systems at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, told ITAF a "rather dramatic" increase in JASSM-ER range could be delivered at a date "not too far in the future" but did not provide a figure.
Last October, Denney told ITAF Lockheed is pursuing a block upgrade program to improve range, GPS-denial, survivability and payload capabilities. The company is experimenting with laminar flow wings, which allow for uninterrupted airflow without friction, to boost JASSM-ER's farther than its current range of more than 500 nautical miles. In addition to several survivability initiatives, Lockheed is exploring ground- and star-based navigational techniques and inertial measurement unit improvements that could kick in if the guided missile loses its GPS connection. JASSM could also be modified to carry payloads like other missiles or small unmanned aircraft instead of its 1,000-pound warhead.
JASSM-ER is flown on the B-1B, was flight-tested on the F-15 earlier this year, and is planned to move to the B-52 later in 2017, to the F-16 in 2018 and later to the B-2. The Air Force plans to buy 2,034 JASSM and 2,866 JASSM-ER for $7.2 billion over the life of the program, Inside Defense previously reported.
https://insidedefense.com/daily-news/air-force-charts-first-step-jassm-er-development-effort
The service said in a May 16 sources-sought notice, "the weapon's electronics, hardware, and operational flight software changes must be holistically approached to leverage design, engineering, and test activities" at a system level. The notice tells companies to contact Lockheed about subcontracting opportunities.
In a May 18 email from a spokeswoman, Jason Denney, Lockheed's long-range strike systems program director, said the notice marks the start of a development effort to improve JASSM-ER performance.
"Lockheed Martin has already started looking at the engineering and aerodynamic improvements for future wing designs to support increased range," Denney wrote. "Additional studies, testing, and qualification will include software and hardware upgrades, as well as a new missile control unit to support the missile upgrades."
"Lockheed Martin has a dedicated development team working this project, providing uninterrupted production support at all levels," he added.
According to the sources-sought notice, the "group one" contract for completely assembled missiles includes systems engineering and program changes to streamline and phase design, development, integration, testing and verification of new components and subsystems for JASSM-ER's baseline electronics, hardware, firmware and operational flight software.
"Group one shall also include preparation for final [all-up-round] integration, system-level ground and flight testing, and qualification," the Air Force notice stated. "This effort shall concurrently mature a new missile control unit, new wings and chine, and the [anti-jam GPS] receiver, and necessary hardware and infrastructure to support group one production cut-in."
New hardware and software will be added to the missiles in the "earliest production lot possible," Denney said. Last month, the company negotiated a price for Lot 15, which will include 360 JASSM-ER units, Inside the Air Force previously reported.
Alan Jackson, vice president of strike systems at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, told ITAF a "rather dramatic" increase in JASSM-ER range could be delivered at a date "not too far in the future" but did not provide a figure.
Last October, Denney told ITAF Lockheed is pursuing a block upgrade program to improve range, GPS-denial, survivability and payload capabilities. The company is experimenting with laminar flow wings, which allow for uninterrupted airflow without friction, to boost JASSM-ER's farther than its current range of more than 500 nautical miles. In addition to several survivability initiatives, Lockheed is exploring ground- and star-based navigational techniques and inertial measurement unit improvements that could kick in if the guided missile loses its GPS connection. JASSM could also be modified to carry payloads like other missiles or small unmanned aircraft instead of its 1,000-pound warhead.
JASSM-ER is flown on the B-1B, was flight-tested on the F-15 earlier this year, and is planned to move to the B-52 later in 2017, to the F-16 in 2018 and later to the B-2. The Air Force plans to buy 2,034 JASSM and 2,866 JASSM-ER for $7.2 billion over the life of the program, Inside Defense previously reported.
https://insidedefense.com/daily-news/air-force-charts-first-step-jassm-er-development-effort
