French AASM Weapon Performs its First Flight Test

Released on Thursday, September 09, 2004

The French Armaments Procurement Agency, DGA, has announced that the first AASM (Armement Air-Sol Modulaire) air-to-ground modular weapon was released successfully from a Mirage 2000 over Landes and Mediterranean test range at Biscarosse, France. The test was carried out on September 6, 2004.

The AASM, being developed by Sagem, is a modification kit to allow unguided/dumb 250 kg bombs to perform precision guided attacks flying tens of kilometers through its target. Currently, two models are being developed depending upon their intended Circular Error Probable (CEP): one meter precision bomb and 10-meter precision bomb. The 10 meters CEP AASM will feature a GPS-based guidance system similar to those of JDAM bombs. The one meter AASM will add an infrared imaging seeker to GPS guidance to achieve such an ambitious precision goal.

AASMs with 10-meter CEP are expected to be deployed on French Rafale F2 beginning in 2006. One meter CEP AASMs are planned to be deployed with French forces in 2008. The new smart weapon will provide low cost, high precision, affordable, all-weather, direct strike capability to the French Air Force following the same approach used by the US military for the JDAM program. JDAM planned improvements also include adding an infrared seeker to the GPS-based guidance system getting improved accuracy.