Success!

By Marcus Weisgerber / August 25, 2009 at 5:00 AM

The Air Force last week conducted a successful test of a Lockheed Martin long-range Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, adding to the weapon's flawless test-flight record, according to a service official.

Unlike the baseline missile, which experienced test issues prompting a retrofit of a fuze cable, the JASSM-ER has flown successfully in all five of its test flights dating back to 2006. The extended-range missile can fly more than 500 nautical miles, or twice as far as the baseline.

“The B-1 landed before the weapon impacted the target successfully,” Col. Michael Fantini, the service's chief of combat force applications at the Pentagon (A5RC), said of the Aug. 20 JASSM-ER test during a presentation at a munitions conference in Vienna, VA this morning.

Last month, the Air Force awarded Lockheed a $23 million contract to build 12 JASSM-ER test missiles. Six of the weapons will be used for the development test flight program, while the remaining six will be used in operational tests.

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