Operational testing of Raytheon’s AGM-154 Joint Stand-off Weapon (JSOW) C-1 gliding munition has begun, during which it was deployed from a US Navy Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet and achieved a direct hit against a land target.
The new C-1 variant of the weapon adds the ability to counter moving maritime targets, in addition to land ones, through a seeker modification and the addition of a two-way Link 16 capability. The successful first test will lead on to subsequent sea trials in the coming months.
During testing the air-to-surface weapon demonstrated the ability to follow a pre-planned route once dropped from 29,000ft, destroying a land target with “precision accuracy”, Raytheon says.
“JSOW is truly a cutting edge to precision stand-off strike,” Mark Borup, business development for JSOW at Raytheon, tells Flightglobal. “It has a very potent penetration capability.”
Before the testing, the new variant achieved "seven-for-seven" against land and maritime targets during its developmental and integration phase, Raytheon says.
US Navy
The net-enabled 475kg (1,050lb) C1 has a range of 70nm (130km) and a 10min flight time when released from 40,000ft. It will be released to the F/A-18 fleet in 2016, Borup says, at which point it will be operational with the USN.
Boeing F-15 and Lockheed Martin F-35 integration with the C variant of JSOW is expected to take place in 2017, and with the C-1 variant by 2020. For the F-35, JSOW will be integrated internally on the conventional take-off and landing A and C carrier variant models, and externally on the short take-off and vertical landing B.
In July 2015, the USN ordered 555 JSOW weapons for $180 million, including 200 units of the C-1 version for itself plus 355 Block III C-models for Saudi Arabia.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
