F-16 Fighting Falcon News

February 4, 1998 (by Lieven Dewitte) - The Boeing Company has successfully conducted the first aircraft separation flight test of its Joint Air-to- Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM). The Jan. 26 missile separation test was conducted from an F-16 C/D flying over the Gulf of Mexico from Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
As predicted, the full-scale missile separated safely from the aircraft and flew a stable trajectory into the water below. The purpose of separation testing is to determine how accurately the behavior of a launched missile can be predicted using trajectory analyses and aerodynamic data derived from wind tunnel testing.

Successful predictions about separating from the F-16 C/D support the ability to predict successful separations from other aircraft as well. In the flight test, the F-16 C/D released the full-scale JASSM vehicle at an altitude of 5, 000 feet and a speed of Mach 0. 8.

According to the pilot, Maj. Roger Vincent, the vehicle "released cleanly and flew a smooth trajectory to impact. "The separation test was preceded on Jan. 14 by an initial captive flight test using a full-scale instrumented measurement vehicle. Additional captive flight and separation tests on an F-16 C/D are scheduled in February.