The Air Force on Thursday awarded Lockheed Martin [LMT] a $172 million fixed-price incentive-fee contract for Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASMs) Lot 2 production.
The contract includes production of 50 LRASMs. The long-range anti-ship missile, a stealthy cruise missile being developed for use on both Air Force and Navy platforms, has undergone several flight tests since Lockheed Martin was awarded over $86 million for 23 low-rate initial production Lot 1 units last July. The missile is based off of the Air Force’s Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range (JASSM-ER), to be used in contested environments against maritime targets.
Early Operational Capability (EOC) for LRASM on the Air Force’s B-1B bomber is expected by year’s end, Joseph Monaghen, a Lockheed Martin spokesman, told Defense Daily earlier this month. The program is meeting all testing milestones, and integration and testing on the Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft is also on schedule and is expected to reach EOC in 2019, he said in an email.
Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2021. Earlier this month, Lockheed Martin won $350 million to continue JASSM production (Defense Daily, Nov. 6).