He then went on to say that formal introduction of the missile into operational service was scheduled for early the following year.
In its report to Congress, the Pentagon attributed the most recent cost spike to engineering increases resulting from work on the extended-range variant, a data link and maritime interdiction capabilities as well as reliability improvements for the weapon.
By July 2005 then Defence Minister Robert Hill announced that two missiles had been successfully fired from an F-111 aircraft at the Woomera Test Range. Unlike most guided weapons and aircraft, the system never had a weight management problem, and was deployed at its target weight. But against a better equipped foe, like China, Syria, Iran, or North Korea, JSOW would be more useful, and that’s why JSOW remains in production and development continued on JSOW ER.
JSOW is basically a smart bomb with wings. This is all a far cry from the weapon as it existed when it first entered service in the 1990s.
The two versions use GPS-assisted inertial navigation to guide them to the target and the pilot can also tell the guidance system to follow specific waypoints, to avoid enemy defenses or other obstacles, and set the optimal angle of attack, such as a shallow glide or a diving strike from above. Texas Instruments was then acquired by Raytheon in January 1997.
Nearly a dozen foreign air forces – Australia, Canada, Finland, Greece, Netherlands, Poland, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates – have or are actively considering purchasing the weapon.
It entered service with the US Navy in February 2005. This version featured a Hamilton Sundstrand TJ-50 turbojet, which Raytheon uses on the ADM-160 Miniature Air-Launched Decoy system, and a flush-mounted intake to preserve the weapon’s low-observable characteristics. This problem was solved soon afterward.
But this project to acquire a follow-on air-to-surface stand-off capability, and its predecessor, Air 5398, has had to face a variety of hurdles, due to demanding requirements, subsequent changes in scope, unexpected integration difficulties and so on.
Copyright © 2018 StrategyPage. One of the arguments for its selection was its potential for equipping future platforms including the JSF. During the 1990s JSOW was considered to be one of the most successful development programs in DOD history. AGM-154A carries 145 bomblets that attack personnel and vehicles.
Foreign Military Sales have been signed with Poland and Turkey for use with their F-16 fighters. As it stands now, the JSOW is the only stand-off air-to-ground weapon the Navy has a firm timeline for adding as an internally-carried option for its F-35Cs. This program concluded development but the Navy decided not to procure the weapon. Fitment of all three capabilities to each project aircraft, would be considered ‘if it represented value for money’.
This type is particularly useful against troops, light vehicles, and surface-to-air missile sites out in the open.
US Navy and Air Force developed the AGM-154B (JSOW B) up until Multi-Service Operational Test & Evaluation (MOT&E) but the Navy decided not to procure the weapon when the Air Force left the program. The glide range of the JSOW allowed the weapon to strike a target located in the southern suburbs of Baghdad.
[8] On 11 October 2017 the Department of the Navy declared the Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) C-1 ready for full operational capability. Two contracts are involved. Total program cost: $3,327,000.
The JSOW family includes a range of weapon variants.
Basing: Air-launched [1][2] The JSOW family is a 450 kilograms (1,000 lb) class weapon intended to provide a low cost, highly lethal air-to-surface glide bomb with standoff capabilities from 28 km (15 nmi) low altitude launch and up to 110 km (60 nmi)[3] high altitude launch. The JSOW is just over 410 centimetres (160 in) in length and weighs about 450 kilograms (1,000 lb). The JSOW contains a modular control and deployment interface that allows future enhancement and additional configurations since it is likely that additional variants will emerge.
More importantly, with the work already done in fitting the JSOW into the F-35C’s internal weapons bays, it could require less effort to integrate the powered JSOW-ER than with an entirely separate design.
[9][10][11] In February, 2019, the US Navy announced that it would issue a sole-source contract to Raytheon to build an improved JSOW-ER to be placed in service by the end of FY2023. © 2020 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The JSOW is a fire-and-forget weapon that employs a tightly coupled GPS/INS for navigation, and is capable of day/night and adverse weather operations. JASSM employs a low-observable airframe designed to defeat various targets, to include enemy air defenses.
After a competitive selection, the program staff was organized into integrated product teams with members from the government, the prime Texas Instruments and subcontractors. Total program cost: $2,033,500. Originally a joint U.S. Air Force and Navy program, the former service decided to stop buying new weapons in 2004, effectively dropping out of the project. The KEPD 350 is said to be the world's only precision stand-off guided missile system that is capable of navigating over long distances without GPS support. The Joint Standoff Weapon is currently used by the US Navy. Subscribe to ADM Premium.
A chart showing planned F-35 weapons options as of 2015. In 2007, Raytheon also began development of an AGM-154C Block III subvariant with an improved guidance system, which became the AGM-154C-1, which adds an imaging infrared seeker to spot and home in on targets during the terminal stage of its flight.
Range is about 22 kilometers if dropped from low altitude. Some would say the best arrow is the one still left in your quiver. It's a bit puzzling why the USAF wouldn't also follow suit.
As the range and precision of surface-to-air missiles, and the sensors that cue them, improves around the world, the desire for more and better cost-effective stand-off weapons will only increase in general.
The JSOW’s Block II upgrade did add components to help resist GPS-jamming, but this was based on the threat as it existed in the mid-2000s. JSOW was recognized in 1996 with a Laurels Award from Aviation Week & Space Technology. The basic airframe is advertised as a "truck" and the JSOW-as-a-truck capability is widely advertised. The JASSM (Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile) is a conventional, stealthy, air-launched ground attack cruise missile designed for the U.S. Air Force and international partners.
Australia is collaborating in the development of a JASSM variant capable of engaging relocatable and mobile targets, which depends on USAF development of a maritime interdiction capability that is suitable for the Australian application.
Back in 1998, JASSM's development period was extended which led the USN to propose an alternative, the Standoff Land-Attack Missile Expanded Response (SLAM-ER). JASSM and LRASM are conspicuously absent.
Powered by a turbofan engine at Mach 0.8-0.9 it can be carried by the Tornado, Eurofighter Typhoon, Gripen and F/A-18 aircraft. The AGM-154C carries the BROACH warhead.
Interestingly, a promotional video Lockheed Martin put together to pitch its entrant to the Navy's carrier-based MQ-25 tanker drone program, a portion of which is seen below, also includes a computer-generated rendering of an armed version, complete with a pair JSOWs.