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| This article first appeared in Aerospace Daily & Defense Report. Raytheon has conducted the first free-flight test of a powered, extended-range version of its Joint Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW-ER) as the U.S. Navy prepares to begin an analysis of alternatives (AOA) for anti-ship missiles to replace the Harpoon. The Oct. 1 test involved a JSOW glide weapon modified to demonstrate that a Hamilton Sundstrand TJ150 turbojet could be installed within the outer mold line of the basic "truck." The weapon's BLU-111 warhead was hollowed out to act as the fuel tank. The demonstration vehicle was released from a Navy F/A-18 over the Pacific Missile Test Range off Pt. Mugu, Calif., deployed its wing, started the engine and flew for more than 260 naut. mi, says Raytheon program director Phyllis McEnroe. Raytheon's threshold range target was 150 naut. mi. and objective was 250 naut. mi. Installing the fuel tank behind a smaller warhead would allow a production JSOW-ER to reach 300 naut. mi., she says. The test, funded with $4 million earmarked by Congress, demonstrated level flight, navigation via three-dimensional waypoints and terminal maneuvering. Raytheon is looking for funding to continue work, saying the weapon could be fielded in four years as a follow-on to the unpowered, datalink-equipped JSOW C-1 now under development for the Navy. The extended-range weapon would retain the JSOW C's imaging-infrared seeker for use against static land targets and the C-1's datalink for use against moving maritime targets. The JSOW-ER is not a program of record, stresses Capt. Mat Winter, Navy precision strike weapons program manager, but will be one of the options assessed by the anti-surface warfare (ASuW) AOA to begin in January and expected to last 18-24 months, allowing a program start in Fiscal 2014. Winter says the AOA will look at both near-term modifications to existing weapons such as JSOW as well and long-term clean-sheet designs like the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile program. Sustainment of the Harpoon is funded to 2025, and modification of an existing weapon could bridge the capability gap until a clean-sheet missile is ready, he says. In addition to JSOW, Winter says candidates include Harpoon itself as well as Lockheed Martin's Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, Boeing's Stand-off Land Attack Missile – Extended Range and Kongsberg's Joint Strike Missile. Although the AOA will cover air-, ship- and submarine-launched ASuW weapons, McEnroe says Raytheon is only proposing the JSOW-ER for air launch. |