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JASSM successful in flight test

March 5, 2005 (by Lieven Dewitte) - A Lockheed Martin Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), the world's first stealthy cruise missile, was successfully launched Thursday from an F-16 aircraft and precisely navigated through its first verification flight test at White Sands Missile Range, NM.
The missile successfully struck the target as planned.

"The test program for 2005 will demonstrate that JASSM is a dependable and effective product that our air crews can rely on." said Randy Bigum, vice president of Strike Weapons at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.

A busy flight test program follows this test with more flights planned for 2005. The program will venture into new areas by conducting three live launches, called Product Upgrade Verification flight tests, to prove out the new electronic safe-and-arm fuze. Additionally, Lockheed Martin will conduct the first flight testing (captive carriage and a jettison test vehicle) of the JASSM Extended Range (JASSM-ER) configuration.

JASSM continues to be a critical weapon for the U.S. Air Force, with the fourth production lot under contract toward a total of 4,900 rounds through at least 2018. The state-of-the art missile factory was designed to accommodate U.S. Air Force and Foreign Military Sales production rates concurrently. JASSM is being proposed to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) for its AIR 5418 requirement. The ability to be integrated on aircraft with the JSOW interface has been successfully demonstrated, which provides a low cost integration path for JASSM on multiple aircraft for both the RAAF and European Participating Air Forces (EPAF) countries.

A 2,000-pound class weapon with a dual-mode penetrator and blast fragmentation warhead, JASSM cruises autonomously in adverse weather, day or night, using a state-of-the-art infrared seeker in addition to the anti-jam GPS to find a specific aimpoint on the target. Its stealthy airframe makes it extremely difficult to defend against.

The missile is planned for deployment on B-1, B-2, B-52, F-16 and F/A- 18E/F aircraft and has a range greater than 200 miles.

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