Raytheon Company,
JSOW-ER to provide warfighters with easily integrated, affordable, viable weapon
SAN DIEGO: The Joint Standoff Weapon Extended Range missile moved one step closer to powered flight testing when Raytheon Company successfully conducted a second ground test of the JSOW-ER engine at the facility of Hamilton Sundstrand, a United Technologies Corp. company, late last year.
The Raytheon- and Hamilton Sundstrand-funded test evaluated a flush inlet, engine and exhaust design. This test keeps the JSOW-ER on track for further functional ground tests, a captive carry flight test in 2008, and a free- flight demonstration in 2009.
JSOW-ER, which comprises a portion of Raytheon's response to the Air Force's request for information for alternative solutions to the Joint Air-to- Surface Standoff Missile, is a proposed variant of the combat-proven JSOW, with a price goal of $350,000 per unit.
“JSOW-ER provides the warfighter an affordable extended-range missile that is essentially a spiral of Raytheon's combat-proven glide JSOW,” said Harry Schulte, vice president of Raytheon Missile Systems Strike product line. “It can be easily integrated onto any aircraft that can carry JSOW and will give the warfighter a 300-nautical mile missile with the same netted weapon capability and maritime interdiction capability currently in development for the JSOW C-1.”
JSOW-ER's affordability and longer range can, in large part, be attributed to the weapon's 150-pound thrust class Hamilton Sundstrand engine. The engine, which is the same one used in Raytheon's Miniature Air Launched Decoy, will help keep the JSOW-ER affordable while reducing the MALD's(TM) cost per unit, thanks to economies of scale. JSOW-ER will also incorporate the same cost initiatives that reduced the unit cost of JSOW Block II by more than 25 percent.
Raytheon Company, with 2007 sales of $21.3 billion, is a technology leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning more than 85 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 72,000 people worldwide.
With 2006 revenues of $5 billion, Hamilton Sundstrand, a division of United Technologies Corporation, employs approximately 18,000 people worldwide and is headquartered in Windsor Locks, Conn. Among the world's largest suppliers of technologically advanced aerospace and industrial products, the company designs, manufactures and services aerospace systems and provides integrated system solutions for commercial, regional, corporate and military aircraft. It also is a major supplier for international space programs.
United Technologies Corp., based in Hartford, Connecticut, is a diversified company that provides a broad range of high technology products and support services to the building systems and aerospace industries.
Background Information
JSOW is a joint Navy and Air Force program. It is a family of low-cost air-to-ground weapons that employs an integrated GPS/Inertial Navigation System that guides the weapon to the target. The JSOW uses a common and modular weapon body capable of carrying various payloads. Its long standoff range allows delivery from well outside the lethal range of most enemy air defenses.
The AGM-154A, or JSOW-A variant, dispenses BLU-97 combined-effect bomblets for use against soft and area targets. The program completed production mid- 2007 and is integrated on the F/A-18, F-16, F-15E, B-2 and B-52 aircraft. JSOW A-1 has a BLU-111 warhead (insensitive MK-82) and is primarily for the international market. Turkey ordered 50 in 2006.
More than 400 JSOW-As have been used in combat operations, including Iraqi Freedom. The AGM-154C, or JSOW-C variant, incorporates an imaging infrared seeker for high precision and a multistage warhead, which has both a blast- fragmentation and hard-target penetration effect.
JSOW-C is in full-rate production and achieved initial operational capability in February 2005 with the U. S. Navy and Marine Corps. It is currently being produced for U.S. Navy and Marine Corps' F/A-18 Hornets and has been ordered by Poland and Turkey for use on F-16 Fighting Falcons.
The JSOW AGM-154C-1 variant recently entered the system design and development phase.
The JSOW program recently celebrated six years of uninterrupted and on- time deliveries, with more than 3,000 weapons produced.
