By Marina Malenic
The Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) program is expected to resume flight testing this week after a delay to investigate two failures of the munition to detonate upon impact.
A series of 10 JASSM reliability assessment flight tests began in November. The suspension, in place since then, is the result of two missiles failing to detonate upon impact with a target, according to the Air Force. The service’s Failure Review Board has investigated the incidents, said program manager Col. Steve Demers.
“We had four test shots executed back on Nov. 7 as part of the reliability assessment test program,” Demers told Defense Daily. “All four weapons were successfully released from the aircraft, transitioned to power flight, and hit their targets spot-on. However, two of the four–the last two–did not detonate.”
Demers said investigators discovered the reason for the failed detonations and that the problem has been resolved.
“We’ve had some extensive Failure Review Board analysis and were able to put in place significant risk mitigation actions to be able to get back to testing as soon as we have time on the range,” he said.
Demers said the test failures would not result in an increase in development or production costs, but the resultant delay has lengthened the testing schedule. Reliability testing on the baseline JASSM variant had been expected to conclude in November 2009.
“We are now looking at finishing in February” of next year, Demers said.
Two more sets of 10 shots are to be conducted this year, in addition to the set that is expected to resume this week.
“It’s a robust reliability program because reliability is very important,” Demers said. “We want to prove that it’s reliable, and if there are issues we want to find them and fix them.”
A Defense Acquisition Board review of the program had been scheduled for Dec. 5, 2008, but it was postponed by Pentagon acquisition chief John Young. It is now tentatively scheduled for next month, according to an official familiar with the review process.
Young’s office did not return requests for comment by press time.
Asked whether the two flight failures could pose difficulty for the program’s continuation, Demers said he believes the problems discovered in test have been fixed.
“Ultimately it’s going to come down to the defense acquisition executive’s confidence in the program,” he said. “We feel that we have gone through the Failure Review Board analysis, a thorough examination of what went wrong, and will make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“How that will be perceived from above, I think it’s too soon to say,” he added.
The Extended Range (JASSM-ER) variant successfully completed an integration flight test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., last September (Defense Daily, Oct. 23, 2008). Demers said the next ER flight test is schedule for late spring.
The baseline variant range is greater than 200 miles, while the ER version range is greater than 500 miles, program officials have said.
Last May, the Pentagon allowed the program to resume following cost overruns and several flight test failures. The program encountered significant cost growth in the previous year and failed four flight tests within the same week. The breach of a congressional cost growth cap eventually led to Defense Department discussions about terminating the program (Defense Daily, May 9, 2007). The Pentagon certified a restructured program for JASSM last spring (Defense Daily, May 5, 2008).
Demers said he still believes the program will be successful.
“JASSM is still a very important asset for the warfighter,” Demers said. “We are hopeful that we will deliver a reliable asset.”
The baseline JASSM is currently in its seventh production lot. Lockheed Martin officials have said they anticipate a “roughly 50-50 mix” of baseline and ER variants in the 4,900 units they have been asked to produce.
JASSM is a precision cruise missile designed for launch from outside area defenses to kill hard, medium-hardened, soft and area-type targets.
The program received $156.5 million in the fiscal year 2007 budget and $160 million in FY ’08. The Pentagon’s FY ’09 budget includes $240.3 million for the missile.
The baseline JASSM is integrated on the B-1, B-2, B-52 bombers and F-16 fighter jets. Future platforms include the F-15E, F/A-18 and F-35. The B1-B is the primary platform for the extended range variant of JASSM while the missile is still in development