The SOM-J Missile for F-35

F-35 Armament, fuel tanks, internal and external hardpoints, loadouts, and other stores.
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by jedigman » 05 Nov 2017, 10:24

Lockheed Martin and Roketsan signed a contract to cooperatively develop the SOM-J missile for integration into the F-35 internal weapons bay. SOM-J is a new generation air-to-surface standoff cruise missile.

The contract enables the companies to move forward with their Technical Assistance Agreement, making the SOM-J missile available to international customers. SOM-J integration into the F-35 is scheduled for Block 4. Early live flight testing will be conducted on Turkish F-16s.

“SOM-J integration on the F-35 will enable pilots to engage targets from long ranges while maintaining the aircraft’s critical stealth capabilities,” said Frank St. John, vice president at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.

“This contract signing, and subsequent approval of the Technical Assistance Agreement, continues our strong relationship with Lockheed Martin,” said Emin Alpman, chairman of the board at Roketsan. “Offering SOM-J to the international F-35 marketplace will bring critical business to Turkey and provide an important capability to allied nations.”

SOM missile development began in 2006 and entered service with the Turkish Air Force in 2011. SOM-J is a smaller version of the subsonic SOM missile, which employs a 500-pound warhead and has a required range of more than 100 nautical miles. The SOM-J missile uses Global Positioning System as its primary guidance and is aided by inertial, terrain-referenced and image-based navigation systems, as well as an imaging infrared seeker.

Image

On Turkish Defence ministries website they mention "Joint Strike Fighter F-35s can carry 4 pieces of SOM-J standoff (cruise) missiles in its body". Is it possible to fit 4 cruise missiles internally on F-35 ?

http://www.ssm.gov.tr/WebSite/contentli ... 3&LangID=2


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by spazsinbad » 05 Nov 2017, 17:37

This URL seems to be the one for the blurb above: http://www.roketsan.com.tr/en/roketsan- ... bir-arada/

There is a thread or two already about SOM-J in this forum sub-section: [although info sprinkled throughout because....]

TEXT string to search forum to find results below (only examples for sub-section finding) +Turkey +missile +Roketsan

Roketsan SOM-J to enter flight trials early 2017
viewtopic.php?f=54&t=52464&p=355605&hilit=Turkey+missile+Roketsan#p355605

Questions about F-35 Armaments
viewtopic.php?f=54&t=25366&p=302637&hilit=Turkey+missile+Roketsan#p302637

Possible internal carry cruise missiles for the F-35
viewtopic.php?f=54&t=22756&p=270914&hilit=Turkey+missile+Roketsan#p270914


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by jedigman » 11 Nov 2017, 13:51

Product card for SOM-J from Lockheed Martin.
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by eloise » 11 Nov 2017, 14:33

JSM is an overall superior product: Two ways data link, extra passive radar homing seeker, terminal evasive maneuver and better RCS.


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by lbk000 » 11 Nov 2017, 15:36

You want Turkey acquiring JSM then?


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by krorvik » 11 Nov 2017, 16:34

jedigman wrote:On Turkish Defence ministries website they mention "Joint Strike Fighter F-35s can carry 4 pieces of SOM-J standoff (cruise) missiles in its body". Is it possible to fit 4 cruise missiles internally on F-35 ?


I can''t imagine that's physically possible.


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by zerion » 11 Nov 2017, 17:04

krorvik wrote:
jedigman wrote:On Turkish Defence ministries website they mention "Joint Strike Fighter F-35s can carry 4 pieces of SOM-J standoff (cruise) missiles in its body". Is it possible to fit 4 cruise missiles internally on F-35 ?


I can''t imagine that's physically possible.

It's not, the specs says that it is 4 meters long.


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by krorvik » 11 Nov 2017, 19:05

And has a wider body than the JSM as far as I can tell.


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by ricnunes » 12 Nov 2017, 01:02

eloise wrote:JSM is an overall superior product: Two ways data link, extra passive radar homing seeker, terminal evasive maneuver and better RCS.


I believe you forgot an important feature: the warhead!

- The JSM has a 276 lb HE (High Explosive) blast-fragmentation warhead.

- The SOM-J has a 310 lb Semi-armor piercing blast-fragmentation warhead.

So the SOM-J has clearly a more powerful warhead than the JSM specially and namely against hardened targets. So here we have (an important, in my opinion) advantage of the SOM-J compared to the JSM.
“Active stealth” is what the ignorant nay sayers call EW and pretend like it’s new.


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by ricnunes » 12 Nov 2017, 01:07

krorvik wrote:
jedigman wrote:On Turkish Defence ministries website they mention "Joint Strike Fighter F-35s can carry 4 pieces of SOM-J standoff (cruise) missiles in its body". Is it possible to fit 4 cruise missiles internally on F-35 ?


I can''t imagine that's physically possible.


Me neither.
I personally believe that "4 SOM-J can be fitted inside the F-35 body" is probably some bad translation from Turkish(?) to English or any other sort of misinterpretation. Probably what was really meant in that sentence was simply that the F-35 will be able to carry 4 SOM-Js without actually specifying where.
This in my opinion would certainly be more than possible: 2 carried internally while the other 2 carried externally.
“Active stealth” is what the ignorant nay sayers call EW and pretend like it’s new.


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by charlielima223 » 12 Nov 2017, 02:41

eloise wrote:JSM is an overall superior product: Two ways data link, extra passive radar homing seeker, terminal evasive maneuver and better RCS.


It is also a more mature product. It might also be a more cost effective product because the JSM is a modified air-to-surface version of the NSM. Commonality between the two could keep the overall price down.


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by blindpilot » 12 Nov 2017, 03:24

ricnunes wrote:...
- The JSM has a 276 lb HE (High Explosive) blast-fragmentation warhead.
- The SOM-J has a 310 lb Semi-armor piercing blast-fragmentation warhead.

So the SOM-J has clearly a more powerful warhead than the JSM specially and namely against hardened targets. So here we have (an important, in my opinion) advantage of the SOM-J compared to the JSM.


That may be true of the NSM, but I am pretty sure the JSM has a 500 lb warhead with a void sensing fuse for hardened targets?

BP


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by spazsinbad » 12 Nov 2017, 03:35

JSM Product PDF: https://www.kongsberg.com/~/media/KDS/F ... duced.ashx (1.5Mb)
"...The JSM has a 500lbs class warhead with a gross weight of 120 kg and explosive weight of 100 kg (TNT equivalent). The warhead is a combined blast (primary effect) and fragmentation (secondary effect) warhead with insensitive High Explosive (HE) charge). The warhead casing is made of titanium alloy with a steel-grid for fragmentation effect....

...The fuze is programmable with custom-designed fuze programs down-loaded prior to launch. The warhead is insensitive munition certified....

...JSM Key Characteristics
Length : 4.00 m (157 in)
Height : 0.52 m (20.4 in)
Width : 0.48 m (18.9 in) (stowed)
Mass : 416kg (917 lbs)
Speed : High Subsonic
Agility : High

Guidance
Inertial Navigation, aided by GPS and TERCOM.
Imaging Infra-Red Target Seeker....

...Platform integration
JSM fits into the internal weapons bay of the F-35 A and C versions. JSM can also be carried on external stations on F-35,
F-16, F/A-18 and F-15."

GRAPHIC: download/file.php?id=23025 JPG: JSM test firing against a Norwegian frigate
Attachments
JSMloadouts6xF-35ApdfSMALL.gif
JSMshipStrikeEffect.jpg


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by krorvik » 12 Nov 2017, 09:13

One thing though, do these missiles allow simultaneous internal slammer carriage?

Edit: Seems so,

Image


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by ricnunes » 12 Nov 2017, 13:12

blindpilot wrote:That may be true of the NSM, but I am pretty sure the JSM has a 500 lb warhead with a void sensing fuse for hardened targets?

BP


As you can see from spazsinbad's post with the JSM brochure, the JSM's warhead weight is 120 kg or ~265 lb.
From the SOM-J brochure (posted by jedigman) we can see that the SOM-J's warhead weight is ~310 lb.

But even if the both missiles warheads had the same weight (which against isn't the case) we cannot ignore what is an extremely important factor here which is the type of warhead.
Again the JSM warhead is HE (High Explosive) while the SOM-J warhead is Semi-Armor piercing and what does this mean? It means (again) that the SOM-J is much more effective against hardened targets such as bunkers compared to the JSM.

Well one thing is sure, Lockheed Martin (the F-35's manufacturer) wants to co-produce SOM-J and this for a reason. Perhaps LM sees other kinds of potential in it which can't be found on the JSM for example? Perhaps one of these potentials is what I described above (about warheads)?
“Active stealth” is what the ignorant nay sayers call EW and pretend like it’s new.


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