Lockheed Martin Snags Joint Common Missile
Aviation Week & Space Technology
05/10/2004, page 34
Robert Wall
Washington
Douglas Barrie
London
Selection of Lockheed Martin for Hellfire successor likely will deepen U.K. quandary
Common Sense
Lockheed Martin's victory in the Pentagon's multibillion-dollar Joint Common Missile program will compound Britain's difficulties in eventually choosing whether to pursue transatlantic or European paths to meet its requirement.
London is a junior partner in the Joint Common Missile (JCM), but is effectively running a three-pronged approach to fulfilling its needs: involvement in JCM, domestic research and development under its own Common Missile effort, and exploring a collaborative European development.
The U.K. JCM contribution is about $3 million a year, keeping a toehold in the program, as it mulls its options. This summer is also likely to see subsystems development work contracted for on its national development effort. The British Defense Ministry is believed to want to be in a position to have major component hardware, including sensor and motor elements, in a prototype form by 2007.
THE WINNING Lockheed Martin team includes Anglo-French propellant specialist Roxcel, which will provide the advanced motor-fill for the Aerojet boost-sustain motor. Any U.K. solution to its missile requirement would likely also include its own solid-propulsion specialist.
Having won the development contract for the JCM, Lockheed Martin has little more than a year to demonstrate to top Pentagon officials that it can deliver on performance and cost promises. Although the development phase is four years long, acting Pentagon acquisition czar Michael W. Wynne has instructed the U.S. Army to deliver a progress report in 12-14 months.
Rick Edwards, Lockheed Martin's director for Tactical Missiles, notes that many of the needed component demonstrations have already been accomplished, although captive carry missions are still outstanding. Missile firings would occur during the later phase of development.
The Army last week awarded Lockheed Martin an initial $53 million for the system development and demonstration phase, which is likely to grow to $1.6 billion before development and the first two lots of low-rate production are complete. Lockheed Martin trumped Boeing and Raytheon competitors in one of the most desirable tactical missile competitions. The Pentagon expects to buy more than 54,000 missiles, bringing the estimated cost for development and production to above $5 billion. JCM is supposed to replace the Hellfire, Tow and Maverick air-to-ground missiles.
JCM is designed to greatly expand the range at which pilots would be able to attack ground targets, with helicopters able to strike at 16 km. (10 mi.) and higher and faster flying fixed-wing aircraft at 28 km. It would be integrated on several helicopters and the F/A-18E/F, although additional platforms, such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, are being considered.
The Army leads JCM development, although the U.S. Navy and Marines are partners. The U.S. Air Force is still on the fence, largely because it wants to avoid paying part of the development bill, according to USAF representatives.
Two of the main features of the JCM are its tri-mode seeker and extended burn-time motor. The seeker includes a semi-active laser, imaging infrared sensor, and millimeter wave radar for fire-and-forget operations. The Army has the option during the next year to ask Lockheed Martin to pick a second seeker provider as a risk-mitigation strategy.
While Lockheed Martin integrates the seeker, it is working with San Diego-based Remec on the millimeter wave component, while EMS in Atlanta, Ga., will supply the radar electronics and the antenna. CMC Electronics will deliver the focal plane array for the imaging infrared seeker.
Two JCMs would fit on EDO Corp.'s Joint Dual Rail Launcher, while two of the launchers can be attached to a BRU-55 launcher to allow four missiles to be carried on a single wing station of a fixed-wing aircraft.
During the previous concept development phase, Lockheed Martin demonstrated the missile's use against hardened urban targets to validate the multi-target warhead design. JCM will include a precursor charge detonation and main charge penetration capability, with a time-delayed fuzing. The warhead can function as a shaped-charge against armored vehicles and as a blast fragmentation system when used against softer targets, including buildings, small boats or lightly armored vehicles. General Dynamics-Ordnance and Tactical Systems and PerkinElmer provide the warhead subsystem.
Lockheed Martin's missile configuration allows room for growth for features such as a data link. The latter could be critical for F-35 internal carriage, because that could require the missile to have lock-on-after-launch capability.
Missile production would take place at Lockheed Martin's facility in Troy, Ala., where the company builds several other tactical missiles including Hellfire and Javelin.
During the previous phase, Lockheed Martin completed a fit check with a mock JCM on an F/A-18.Credit: LOCKHEED MARTIN MISSILES AND FIRE CONTROL