Lockheed Martin has received a US Air Force contract valued at US$107m for a seventh production lot of the JASSM cruise missile.
JASSM is a 2,000lb-class weapon with a dual-mode penetrator and blast fragmentation warhead, which 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, Lockheed said.
The missile is integrated on B-1, B-2, B-52 and F-16 aircraft and is also planned for integration on the F-15.
The contract is for procurement of 111 JASSM production missiles, along with systems engineering and flight test support. In recent flight tests on the B-52 and B-1 aircraft, the cruise missile proved its reliability and capabilities across a wide variety of targets – including hardened, underground bunkers and air defence systems.
The contract award will bring total contracted quantities of the cruise missile to 1,053.
By staff writer
