Non-Subscriber Extract
US DoD resumes JASSM acquisition plans
By Caitlin Harrington
08 May 2008
The US Department of Defense (DoD) announced on 2 May that it will resume acquisition of the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) after adjusting production plans to account for cost overruns and time lost due to a serious misfiring problem.
John Young, the Pentagon's chief weapons buyer, certified a plan for Lockheed Martin to continue manufacturing JASSM and to begin production of its extended-range cousin, JASSM-ER, in a memorandum dated 1 May.
In the memorandum, Young said he had decided to move ahead with JASSM and JASSM-ER because the programme meets criteria for certification under a Nunn-McCurdy breach. That means the Pentagon has concluded the programme meets the criteria to continue even though unit costs have grown more than 25 per cent.
Image: JASSM missile in flight {Lockheed Martin)