JASSM on track for Australia
Signature of the Letter of Acceptance (LOA) for Australia's purchase of the AGM-158 Joint Air-Surface Stand-Off Missile (JASSM) was 'imminent' according to defence industry sources at Farnborough. The RAAF has selected the JASSM to arm its upgraded F/A-18 Hornets, and then its F-35A Lightning II joint strike fighters; the missile is being acquired under a US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) agreement worth an estimated $450 million.
Australia's JASSMs will be built on the same assembly line as the US Air Force's missiles, according to Bob Griswell, of Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control Systems. The first flight test vehicles will be delivered next year, he told ADM; integration of JASSM with the RAAF's F/A-18 hornets will be undertaken by Boeing Integrated Defense Systems with a program of dummy and live weapons firings planned at the US Navy's China Lake facility in California and at Woomera in Australia.
The RAAF is the first Hornet operator to order the JASSM, Griswell told ADM. But integration is expected to be trouble free - the weapon is also integrated with the F-15, F-16, B-1, B-2 and B-52, he said. Furthermore, the US Navy has already conducted captive carriage trials of JASSM on a Hornet to ensure physical compatibility and its ability to withstand catapult launches and arrested landings.
Production deliveries of the JASSM will begin in December 2009, well in advance of the RAAF's planned retirement of its F-111C strike aircraft. These are scheduled for withdrawal from about 2010, but the RAAF has repeatedly stated it will not be retired until the Hornet is equipped with JASSM, new targeting and self-protection systems and is supported by a new fleet of Airbus A330 multi-role tanker-transports to bestow on it the extended range of the F-111.
When the F-111 retires, the Hornet will assume all of the RAAF's strike and air defence duties until the F-35 enters service from 2014.
No modifications will be necessary to the JASSM for it to be compatible with the F-35 Lightning II, and the missile is on the threshold list of weapons to be integrated with the F-35, Griswell said. But ADM understands from Canberra sources this process will not be completed until Block 4 avionics are cleared for service in about 2015.
Meanwhile the RAAF already has in service all the technical and mission planning capabilities it needs to employ the weapon, and its 200 nautical mile range, Griswell told ADM.
Lockheed Martin undertook the first trial of an Extended Range (ER) version of JASSM in May this year. This uses a different engine and carries more fuel in order to develop two and a half times the range of the baseline weapon while retaining the original's external shape and dimensions. The RAAF hasn't expressed an interest as yet in JASSM-ER, according to Griswell.