Lockheed Martin’s Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM®) Extended Range (photo) successfully completed U.S. Air Force Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) flight testing, scoring 20 successes in 21 flights, a success rate of 95%.

The JASSM-ER missiles demonstrated their effectiveness against a wide variety of operationally representative targets. The missiles were employed in all of the operational flight modes at the full range of release conditions. These missions were designed to validate the full operational capability for the B-1B/JASSM-ER weapon system.

 “These flight tests demonstrate the operational effectiveness, suitability and overall mission capability of the JASSM-ER system,” said Dave Melvin, long range strike systems program manager at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “The successful completion of the testing program was the final milestone before a planned full-rate production decision, expected later in 2013.”

JASSM is an autonomous, air-to-ground, precision-guided standoff missile designed to meet the needs of U.S. and allied warfighters. Armed with a penetrator and blast fragmentation warhead, JASSM cruises autonomously, day or night, in all weather conditions. The missile employs an infrared seeker and enhanced digital anti-jam GPS to find specific points on targets.

JASSM is integrated on the U.S. Air Force’s B-1, B-2, B-52, F-16 and F-15E. Internationally, JASSM is integrated on the F/A-18A/B for the Royal Australian Air Force. Future integration efforts will focus on the U.S. and international versions of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft and other international platforms such as the Finnish F/A-18 C/D.

Produced at the company’s award winning manufacturing facility in Troy, Alabama, Lockheed Martin has assembled more than 1,100 JASSMs for testing and operational use toward a total objective of 4,900 JASSM missiles.

Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) have successfully tested a prototype air-launched Extended Medium-range Ballistic Missile (eMRBM) target at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona.

In the test, a full-scale prototype of the eMRBM target was released from the cargo bay of a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft at 25,000 feet. The system’s parachutes deployed, and the prototype successfully separated from the carriage extraction system. The prototype is a replica of the missile target, without propulsion, that is being used to test and validate the air-launch equipment and carriage extraction system in preparation for the maiden flight of the eMRBM missile target planned for later this year. Supporting Lockheed Martin and the MDA in the test were the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army and subcontractors Orbital Sciences Corp. and Dynetics.

Lockheed Martin is developing the air-launched eMRBM target for the MDA for testing of the Ballistic Missile Defense System to enable warfighters to gain experience with system performance in realistic scenarios.

Under the Targets and Countermeasures Prime Contract, Lockheed Martin is developing and producing a total of 17 missile targets of various types and ranges, including five eMRBM targets. Since the prime contract was awarded in 2003, the company has delivered and launched 27 missile targets in tests of the Ballistic Missile Defense System.

Prior to that, Lockheed produced and launched 17 missile targets under other contracts. The company has achieved an unmatched 98-percent mission success rate in providing ground, air and sea-launched, short, medium and intermediate-range missile targets since 1996.