LRASM Successfully Test Fired From Underway Naval Test Ship

Lockheed Martin has completed the third of three test shots to prove that their air-launched Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) can be fired from a surface ship on the move, company officials told USNI News on Wednesday.

The Monday test at the Navy’s Point Mugu Sea Range, California took the same weapon Lockheed developed for a DARPA program to be launched against ships from fighters and bombers and loaded it into the same launch system used on the service’s guided missile destroyers and cruisers.

“We’re doing it to demonstrate that LRASM can be integrated onto a ship with software changes only and it won’t be a huge bill to put LRASMs in the surface fleet,” Scott Callaway — LRASM Surface-Launch director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control — told USNI News.

Lockheed refurbished a Mk 41 Vertical Launch System cell for the test, combined the 500 nautical mile range LRASM with an additional booster and tied it to a Tactical Tomahawk Weapon Control System (TTWCS) for guidance – all installed on Navy’s Self Defense Test Ship, the former USS Paul Foster.

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LRASM Flight Testing Started on F/A-18E

The US Navy (USN) has begun airworthiness testing of Lockheed Martin's Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet carrier-borne strike fighter.

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Should the P-8 Poseidon be Equipped With the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile?

Recent months have found uniformed officers and naval strategists writing and speaking about regaining the ability of U.S. Navy (USN) ships to conduct offensive anti-surface warfare (ASuW). The discussion has been lively and featured many authors and many different approaches. Some solutions are incremental, such as fielding more capable long-range weapons in existing launch systems.[i] Others are more radical, such as trading large long-range missile defense interceptors for small point defense missiles and building a new generation of multi-role cruise missiles.

Missing from the discussion of future acquisitions and new weapons is how the USN can leverage existing land-based airpower to seize the offensive in ASuW. The P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft is deployed today, with the range, persistence, sensors, and network architecture to serve as a self-contained “kill chain.” It is able to disperse and operate in an expeditionary environment during peacetime or contingency operations. If equipped with more suitable long-range anti-ship weapons, this aircraft will provide greatly increased capability for the combatant commander. This will allow more flexibility for USN forces to operate in an A2/AD environment when a carrier is not nearby or in the interim until more capable surface-based ASuW weapons are fielded.

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Lockheed Awarded $202 Million DARPA Contract for Continued LRASM Development

Lockheed Martin has received a US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract worth up to USD202 million for follow-on development and accelerated acquisition of the US Navy's (USN's) next-generation Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM).

The 2 July award came a week after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) ruled against a joint protest filed by Raytheon and Kongsberg contesting the sole-source LRASM follow-on contract.

LRASM is a joint DARPA/Office of Naval Research programme designed to prove the concept of an autonomous, precision-guided, anti-ship stand-off missile suitable for accelerated transition to production. Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control - Strike Weapons was selected in June 2009 to demonstrate its air-launched concept, which leverages the basic design of the AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-off Missile Extended Range, while introducing additional sensors and systems specific to the offensive anti-surface warfare mission.

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Most US Navy LRASM Procured Will be Competitively Done

The U.S. Navy on Wednesday said it planned to launch an open competition around fiscal 2017 for a next-generation missile, seeking to reassure weapons makers they still have prospects after a separate deal with Lockheed Martin Corp for 90 air-launched missiles sparked a formal protest.

Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley told reporters the Lockheed program was limited in scope and the future, bigger missile development program would be open to all potential bidders.

"That will be competed. That is 100 percent competition," he said after a hearing held by the House Armed Services Committee's seapower and projection forces subcommittee.

Stackley defended the Pentagon's decision to order 90 long-range anti-ship missiles from Lockheed that were developed under a contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). He said the move was justified given the urgent needs of military commanders and said the initial DARPA research contract with Lockheed was awarded after a formal competition.

"The way to get it out there as quickly as possible is to take this system that DARPA has developed with Lockheed and build a limited number (of air-launched missiles) to get it out into the fleet's hands by the 2018 timeframe," he said.

Stackley said the decision required a special "justification and authorization" by the Pentagon's acquisition chief since it was a sole-source deal and that move had sparked a protest by a rival company.

He declined further comment, but said he wanted to make very clear that the larger procurement would be competitively bid.

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US Navy Accelerating Lockheed Martin's Long Range Anti-Ship Missile Acquisition

The US Navy (USN) is accelerating its sole-source acquisition of the Lockheed Martin Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) to meet the air-launched Increment 1 of its Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (OASuW) programme.

LRASM is a joint Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Office of Naval Research programme designed to prove the concept of an autonomous, precision-guided anti-ship stand-off missile. Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control - Strike Weapons was selected in 2009 to demonstrate its air-launched concept, which leverages the basic design of the AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile Extended Range (JASSM-ER) while introducing additional sensors and systems specific to the offensive anti-surface warfare mission.

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