TEXAS INSTRUMENTS (TI) and Shorts Missile Systems have successfully completed talks to mount a joint bid for the UK Staff Requirement (Air) 1236 Conventionally Armed Stand-Off Missile (CASOM) programme.
A formal announcement could be made before the end of the show. The CASOM bids are due at the UK Ministry of Defence in July and, while TI is known to have been working on a proposal for some time, the identity of its UK partner has remained a mystery until now.
The bid would involve a powered version of the TI Joint Stand Off Weapon (JSOW), the next-generation stand-off glide weapon for the US Air Force and US Navy. The AGM-154A JSOW is intended for use on the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 and AV-8B, and the Lockheed Martin F-16. Current plans call for the USAF/USN to buy 21,000 JSOWs, worth roughly $6 billion.
The powered JSOW derivative is also expected to be offered in the Pentagon's forthcoming Joint Air-to-Surface Stand off Missile contest, replacing the cancelled Northrop Grumman AGM-137 Tri-Service Stand-off Attack Missile (TSSAM).
JSOW research and development has always included provisions for a propulsion system, but a powered JSOW variant has not been tested to date. The leading candidate to power the weapon is believed to be the Williams International WJ24-8 turbojet engine, now used to propel the USN's BQM-74 and Chukar series of target drones.
A Texas Instruments/Shorts Missile Systems team would join a crowded field of CASOM bidders seeking over $1 billion in production contracts. Declared and potential bidders also include Aerospatiale, Hughes Missile Systems/Smith Industries, McDonnell Douglas/Hunting Engineering, GEC Defence Systems, BAe/Matra and Rafael.
The TI deal is the latest in three weapons tie-ups agreed by the Northern Ireland aerospace company recently. In May, Lockheed Martin and Shorts Missile Systems disclosed that they will collaborate in marketing the Starstreak missile to the US military.
Under the pact, Shorts would manufacture missile components in Belfast and Lockheed Martin would assemble, integrate and test missiles for US customers. The US Army will test the weapon on the McDonnell Douglas Helicopter AH-64 Apache gun ship. Shorts, is also tied up with Lockheed Martin, offering the Hellfire missile as part of the British Army attack helicopter requirement.
Source: Flight International
