BAE Systems awarded production contract for additional LRASM seekers

BAE Systems Electronic Systems in Nashua, New Hampshire, in early December disclosed the award from Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control of a USD60 million contract to supply additional seeker systems for the AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM).

LRASM is a joint-service (US Navy: USN/US Air Force: USAF) 2400 lb (1088.6 kg) air-launched high-subsonic conventional precision-guided stand-off anti-ship missile derived from the AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile - Extended Range (JASSM-ER) weapon system. The AGM-158C retains the JASSM-ER 1000 lb penetrator/blast fragmentation warhead and enhanced digital anti-jam GPS, but introduces a multimode sensor/seeker package developed by BAE Systems (which combines a passive radio-frequency (RF) long-range sensor for wide area target acquisition and an imaging infrared seeker for terminal targeting), and a weapon data link L-Band Unit (LBU) supplied by ViaSat. The missile has a stated air-launched range of ‘greater than 200 n miles’ (370 km).

LRASM transitioned from a US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) demonstration activity to a USN Program of Record (POR) in February 2014. The joint service LRASM Deployment Office (LDO) and Lockheed Martin have developed LRASM as the weapon solution to meet the Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (OASuW) Increment 1 requirement.

OASuW Increment 1 is an accelerated acquisition programme to procure a limited number of air-launched missiles to address a near-term fleet capability gap – identified under an Urgent Operational Needs Statement (UONS) generated in 2008 by the US Pacific Command – for a flexible, long-range, advanced, anti-surface capability against high-threat maritime targets.