A B-1B Lancer successfully struck a waterborne target with a live warhead for the primary time Aug. 27.
The 337th Test and Evaluation Squadron completed their first of 3 scheduled live-fire tests of a protracted Range Anti-Ship Missile, or LRASM, on-board a B-1.
The mission sought to guage the separation of the missile from the aircraft and monitor the weapon’s flight route to its intended target. Assessment tracked and documented the missile’s in-flight data with an F/A-18 Hornet.
Designed and developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Office of Naval Research, the LRASM relies off the Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range, or JASSM-ER, and was constructed as a part of an effort to beat challenges faced by current anti-ship missiles penetrating sophisticated enemy air defense systems.
Armed with a 1,000-pound penetrator and blast-fragmentation warhead, LRASM employs a multi-mode sensor, weapon data link and an enhanced digital anti-jam Global Positioning System to detect and destroy specific targets within a bunch of ships.
According to 337th TES officials, the anti-ship missile is meant for rapid transition to the Air Force and Navy. Since the LRASM is predicated at the JASSM-ER airframe, it usually is transitioned to the B-1, allowing DARPA to feature the hot technology and create a usable anti-ship missile.
The test squadron’s current LRASM project officer, Capt. Alicia Datzman commented that they’re currently working in parallel with the weapon which may be operational within a number of short years.
One unique technological feature specific to the LRASM that DARPA wishes to use and integrate into the brand new JASSM-ER variant, is the missile’s ability to receive target or coordinate updates while in-flight.
“Unlike the JASSMs fire and forget mentality, this new technology will provide you with the prospect to fireplace and alter your mind,” said Maj. Shane Garner, 337th TES. “Because of the standoff feature these weapons possess, they generally tend to be airborne for your time, and for us so that you could change their coordinates in-flight provides us with a enormous-range of pliability.”
At this time, the B-1 is the sole aircraft currently testing the anti-ship missile.
Should the LRASM technology be fielded installed within the JASSM-ER missile, the B-1 presents itself because the most definitely platform to hold the weapon, because it is currently in a position to carrying 24 of the long-range missiles the very best capacity within the Air Force.
“We can’t only carry more of this weapon than another platform, but our versatile speeds that experience proven useful some time past decade in Afghanistan may even prove useful inside the vast maritime environment,” Datzman said. “With our loitering and refueling capability we are able to hang around for your time waiting on a particular target set or sprint to where we have to deliver these weapons.”
The overarching concept behind the B-1′s rise inside the maritime environment could be attributed to the dep. of Defense’s Air-Sea Battle concept, wherein long-range bombers function a key tenet.
The new concept should guide the four branches of the defense force as they interact to keep up continued U.S. advantage against the worldwide proliferation of advanced military technologies and anti-access/area denial capabilities.
The 337th TES is scheduled to accomplish the rest of their live-fire tests by the tip of 2013.
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