Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES
The US Navy is to begin operational evaluation of the Boeing SLAM-ER (stand-off land attack missile - expanded response) in August. The evaluation will follow the successful completion of the final two combined development/operational test firings of the missile, carried out at the Land Test Range, China Lake, California, on 19 June.
The series of tests, which began with the first launch on 2 June, was concluded with demonstration firings of the missile against a hardened aircraft shelter and a simulated radar installation.
In the first test, a SLAM-ER was launched from a Boeing F/A-18 at 8,000ft (2,450m) and controlled from a second F/A-18 through a route that included more than 60km (38 miles) of terrain-following mode.
The final part of the mission profile included a terminal search altitude of 4,000ft and manoeuvring to attack the front of the target before the missile scored a direct hit.
The second test demonstrated the missile against a high-altitude, land-based target - a simulated portable radar station located on top of China Lake's 2,460m-high Coso Peak.
Following launch from an F/A-18, the missile was guided through a terrain-following profile before being ordered to climb to a 13,000ft search altitude. It then executed a pop-up manoeuvre and performed a 50° dive towards the radar site, against which the missile also scored a direct hit.
The first production Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) was delivered to the US Defense Department from the Boeing manufacturing site in St Charles, Missouri, on 24 June.
The initial production contract for JDAM, a low-cost guidance kit that upgrades free-fall bombs to guided weapons, is valued at $19.7 million, but is expected to rise to a total value of almost $2 billion over the life of the programme.
Source: Flight International