STEPHEN TRIMBLE / WASHINGTON DC
The US Army has launched bidding for its Joint Common Missile (JCM) programme, slashed planned orders by a third, revamped the development strategy and invited the US Air Force to clarify its technical needs.
A request for proposal (RFP) released on 17 September reduces projected JCM orders for the army, US Navy and US Marine Corps from 77,000 to 54,000 units. The RFP also describes a new 48-month development stage and outlines a one-year delay, until 2009, in fielding the first JCM units for the Lockheed Martin AH-64D Apache and the Bell Helicopter AH-1Z Super Cobra.
JCMs will be introduced the following year on the first Boeing/Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche and Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, followed by the Sikorsky MH-60R Strikehawk.
Teams led by Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon are competing for the potentially $6 billion production contract.
The solicitation period comes after a lengthy review by the senior joint staff of the Department of Defense, which had selected JCM as the first test of a new planning procedure designed to infuse interoperability standards into weapon systems prior to development.
Boeing's senior vice president for army systems, Roger Krone, says the JCM's core requirements emerged from the review mostly unchanged. As a result, the air force was invited to submit its unique requirements for the system, although its response is not expected for several weeks.
Krone, speaking at the Association of the United States Army's annual convention in Washington on 7 October, said the total order number may be fluid.
A successful development may attract more orders from existing customers. There is also interest building for a block 2 version starting in 2008 offering a ground-launch capability.
Later this month, industry officials expect the UK to sign a memorandum of understanding to join the four-year system development and demonstration phase as an observer. The UK is eyeing JCM as a replacement for its Brimstone missile inventory.
The JCM, formerly Common Modular Missile, is designed to replace the Raytheon AGM-65 Maverick and the ageing Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire. The 49kg (108lb) missile's tri-mode seeker builds on the Hellfire's semi-active laser capability to add millimetre-wave radar and imaging infrared. A competition will be run for a second-source seeker. JCM will have a 16km range when fired from a helicopter, twice that of the Hellfire, and a 28km range from a fixed-wing platform.
Source: Flight International
