The first end-to-end test of Boeing's Standoff Land Attack Missile - Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) has been completed successfully. It was launched from a US Navy Boeing F/A-18 over 110km (60nm) from the target to test the new man-in-loop terminal-guidance system.
Launched at 10,000ft (3,000m), the missile descended to 2,000ft and navigated via five preplanned waypoints, using passive terrain-following, says Navy programme manager Capt Rob Freedman. The missile then climbed to 4,000ft and activated the infra-red seeker.
Images were datalinked back to the launch aircraft, now 150km distant. The new "freeze-frame" feature allowed the pilot slew the cursor to the aimpoint on a stabilised image, commanding the seeker to track the target. The seeker was locked on 11km from the target, which the unarmed missile struck with the required accuracy.
This was the second flight test. The first, in March, demonstrated the missile's aerodynamic performance, Freedman says, and cleared the way for low-rate initial production of the improved SLAM-ER. The weapon was flown for over 185km on the first flight, he says.
Boeing is to upgrade the Navy's inventory of 700 SLAMs to the extended-range configuration, with the weapon to become operational in 1999, says missile-systems general-manager Bob Krieger. The last basic SLAM will be delivered in November, and 75 still on order will be completed as upgraded SLAM-ERs, he says. Clearance to export the weapon is now being sought, although Boeing will not be able to offer the SLAM-ER until after operational testing ends in late 1998.
An automatic target-acquisition unit is to be added in 1999, in a bid to create the SLAM-ER+. Earlier missiles will be retrofitted with the system, which provides autonomous guidance by matching the seeker image with a digitally stored reference photograph. The SLAM-ER+ is being evaluated as an alternative to the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile under competitive development by Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
Source: Flight International