The B-1 bomber’s anti-ship missile can slay multiple targets
SUMMARY
The U.S. military is prepping for anti-surface warfare to make a comeback, and it's moved one step closer with another successful test of the latest air-launched, Long Range Anti-Ship Missile.
Lockheed Martin Corp., the missile's manufacturer, recently launched the AGM-158C LRASM from a B-1B Lancer at Point Mugu Sea Range, California, the company said.
The aircrew "simultaneously launched two LRASMs against multiple maritime targets, meeting the primary test objectives, including target impact," Lockheed said in a release.
Once launched from the aircraft, the missile — based on the, Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range, or JASSM-ER — will be able to autonomously sensor-locate and track targets while avoiding friendly forces.
The estimated $1.5 billion Navy program is also being tested on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
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"This continued success with LRASM provides confidence in its upcoming early operational capability milestone, putting a proven, unmatched munition into the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force inventories," said David Helsel, LRASM program director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.
"The successful flight demonstrates LRASM's continued ability to strengthen sea control for our forces," he said in the release.
The precision-guided, anti-ship standoff missile was first tested on a B-1B in August.
"The B-1 is the only Air Force platform scheduled to receive this, and we are the threshold platform for [it]," Maj. Jeremy Stover, B-1 program element monitor and instructor weapons systems officer, told Military.com in July.
The weapon will enhance not just the B-1, but the U.S. military's targeting capabilities while protecting at-risk assets in a high-threat environment, Stover said. The B-1 may be capable of carrying more than 20 LRASMs at a time.
The Air Force is scheduled to integrate LRASM onboard the B-1B in 2018 and the Navy on its F/A-18E/F in 2019, the release said.
