JASSM ER Conducts First Flight Test

Released on Monday, May 22, 2006

Lockheed Martin's extended-range JASSM system has successfully performed its first development flight test at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico recently. The JASSM air-to-surface standoff missile system is the world's first stealthy conventional cruise missile.

Launched from a U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer flying at Mach 0.80 and 20,000 feet above the desert, the extended range JASSM (JASSM-ER) inert cruise missile successfully separated from the B-1B, deployed its wings and tail, and started its engine. After weapon release, the missile climbed to the designated cruise altitude, navigated via predetermined waypoints and descended to a selected altitude above ground level for target ingress. The missile performed a terminal maneuver that enabled the missile to demonstrate the desired impact angle and accuracy.

Currently JASSM-ER is in Phase II development, which includes design and verification testing and culminates with flight testing. This flight test is the first all-up-round flight test to verify modifications specific to the extended range missile configuration. This flight will be followed by a series of integrated Air Force and Lockheed Martin development and evaluation test flights to prove out the JASSM-ER missile configuration on the B-1B aircraft platform. Each flight will be an end-to-end test, with successive tests providing an increasing evaluation of the total JASSM-ER system.

A 2,000-pound class weapon with a dual-mode penetrator and blast fragmentation warhead, JASSM-ER cruises autonomously in adverse weather, day or night, using a state-of-the-art infrared seeker in addition to the enhanced digital anti-jam Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver to find a specific aimpoint on the target. Its stealthy airframe makes it extremely difficult for air defense systems to engage.