By Geoff Fein
Raytheon [RTN] and the Navy successfully flight tested the extended range variant of the Joint Stand Off Weapon (JSOW ER) earlier this month off the California coast, meeting all test objectives, a company official said.
The Navy will include data collected from the flight when the service begins an analysis of alternatives (AoA) for a new anti surface warfare weapons (ASuW), Capt. Mat Winter, Precision Strike Weapons program manager, told reporters at an Oct. 30 briefing.
The company was awarded a $4.1 million Navy contract in May 2008 for the flight demonstration, Phyllis McEnroe, Raytheon program manager, told reporters at the briefing.
“Raytheon did invest some of its own funds to do the test,” Winter said.
Raytheon has taken a JSOW C-1 variant, which is equipped with a data link, and added an engine to provide a standoff weapon with a range of approximately 300 nautical miles, McEnroe said.
The company can build JSOW ER on the same production line as the JSOW C-1, she added. That’s because there will be no need to make changes, other than adding a fuel tank for the engine, to the existing JSOW mold line.
Raytheon will use the Hamilton-Sunstrand [UTX] TJ-150 engine, the same system as the company uses on its Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD). Additionally, the ER variant will use the same imagining infrared seeker as currently used on the JSOW C, McEnroe noted.
“In that continuing quest to ensure the quality and relevance of that capability for our warfighters, Raytheon explored opportunities for follow-on capabilities, leveraging off of the success, not only from the warfighting capability, but from the business case for a cost effective capability,” Winter added.
The Oct. 1 flight test took place over the Pacific test range off of Naval Air Station, Point Mugu, Calif.
Launched from a Navy F/A-18, the JSOW ER flew greater than 260 nautical miles (nmi), exceeding both the test threshold (150 nmi) and the objective (250 nmi), McEnroe said.
JSOW ER maintained level flight before the seeker began terminal maneuvers, she added.
“The demonstration proved we could put an engine in and fly it,” McEnroe said.
During the demonstration, the missile’s warhead served as the fuel tank. McEnroe said the company is “looking at a variety of ideas.”
Those ideas include looking at using off-the-shelf warheads that a fuel tank could fit behind, she added.
Although Winter acknowledged that JSOW is not a program of record, data from the flight test will be included in the ASuW AoA that will kick off in January ’10.
The AoA will look at all possibilities for an ASuW weapon, he added.
The Chief of Naval Operations Surface Warfare (N86) and Air Warfare (N88) divisions are sponsoring the study.
Winter said the AoA should be completed in 18 to 24 months. If the Navy opts to pursue a new ASuW weapon, the effort could begin in fiscal year ’14. Under a normal four- to five-year development process, that means JSOW ER, or whatever path the Navy chooses, could transition to production in the 2019-2020 time frame, he added.
The new weapon could then make its way to the fleet in 2022, Winter said.
The Navy’s current capability, JSOW C, is funded out to 2025, he added. JSOW C-1 is currently going through the releasability process for foreign military sales, Winter said.
Currently JSOW is sold to five foreign allies: Australia, Finland, Greece, Poland, and Turkey, McEnroe said.