Newest precision glide bomb enters operational testing

TUCSON, April 20 (UPI) -- The newest variant of Raytheon's AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon is entering operational testing before delivery to the U.S. Navy next year.

The advancement follows successfully completion of the final free flight in the integrated testing phase of the weapon, which will be integrated on F-35 Lightning II fighters.

"As we pivot to the Pacific, our capability to employ networked precision strike across our kill chains and engage in offensive anti-surface warfare is key to maintaining our strategic dominance in that theater," said Capt. Jaime Engdahl, the Navy's Precision Strike Weapons program manager at Patuxent River. "I am proud of our Navy and Raytheon team's commitment to providing these advanced capabilities to the warfighter."

JSOW is a 1,000 pound glide bomb that utilizes GPS/Inertial navigation and is launched from beyond the range of enemy air defense systems. More than 5,000 earlier variant JSOWs have been produced and deployed since 1997, including 400 in combat against land targets. The C-1 variant adds a link-16 weapon data link and the capability to strike a moving maritime target.

In the integrated testing phase by Raytheon and the Navy During the test, aircrew of an F/A-18EF conducted a pre-launch handoff of the weapon to another F/A-18E/F. The weapon was then launched from about 35 nautical miles to the target. The two Super Hornets again transferred control of the weapon, then sent a post-launch retargeting command to reroute the JSOW C-1 from the initial target ship another. While flying towards the target ship, the JSOW C-1 provided real time weapon in-flight track and bomb-hit indication status messages back to the controlling aircraft using the link-16 network.

"JSOW C-1 will be the U.S. Navy's first air-launched, net enabled weapon to provide warfighters with the vital capability to engage both stationary land-based and maneuvering sea-based targets," said Celeste Mohr, Raytheon's JSOW program director. "The affordable JSOW is critical to countering today's advanced, emerging threats."