THE PENTAGON has awarded foreign comparative test (FCT) contracts to evaluate the UK-developed BROACH multi-warhead system on the Texas Instruments Joint Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW) and Boeing Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missile (CALCM).
The BROACH, combining an initial penetrating charge with a secondary follow-through bomb, is the tandem-charged warhead for the Matra BAe Dynamics Storm Shadow Missile.
Storm Shadow was selected by the UK Ministry of Defence in 1996 to meet the Conventionally Armed Standoff Missile requirement. The BROACH is a development of BAe Royal Ordnance, Thomson Thorn Missile Electronics and the UK's Defence Evaluation and Research Agency.
The US Navy is the sole customer for about 7,800 AGM-154C JSOWs, the unitary-warhead variant designed to defeat hardened targets such as bridges and bunkers. Initial deliveries are set for about 2003.
The USN previously conducted FCTs of hard-target kill devices made by France's Matra and Israel's Rafael. The Lockheed Martin-developed warhead for the cancelled Tri-Service Stand-off Attack Missile may also be considered for use on the AGM-154C.
Source: Flight International