With the implementation of budget constraints as a result of the congressional cost-cutting measures of 2011, most, if not all, of the Navy’s weapon-procurement programs will be affected in some way. Programs that are important in the grand scheme may have to be scrapped to save others with a higher priority. Programs with a history of minimal performance may end up on the chopping block. The coming years will be marked with tough decisions as the Navy seeks to keep up with its commitments with older equipment being pushed to the limit by nonstop war operations that began in 2001 and replacement systems delayed because of funding shortfalls.
Fixed-Wing Aircraft
F-35 Lightning II: The F-35 Lightning II program is aiming to field the new strike fighter in Fiscal Year 2016. The program manager, Vice Admiral David Venlet, said that although changes made to the program have extended flight testing and slowed development by about a year with an overall price increase of $4.6 billion, the program has made progress over the past year after the F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) version was put on probation for non-performance by then–Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and taken off by incoming SecDef Leon Panetta.
The F-35 program completed static structural testing of the F-35C and sea trials of the F-35B, achieving two of five milestones established by the Joint Program Office for 2011 that would result in bonus money for Lockheed Martin. Those milestones were: (1) F-35B initial sea trials (completed); (2) F-35C land-based catapult and arrested landing tests (catapult test completed, awaiting fix of arresting gear problems); (3) F-35C structural static-loads testing (completed); (4) delivery of Block 1B software for training (at least six weeks behind schedule); and (5) release Block 2A software for flight testing (delayed due to Block 1B problems).
After several years of hanging by a thread, the F136 engine being designed and built by the General Electric/Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team as an alternate powerplant for the F-35 was directed to be terminated in March with final program dissolution taking place on 2 December 2011.
F-35B: Sea trials of the F-35B were held 3–24 October 2011. The three-week trials were conducted on board the USS Wasp (LHD-1) sailing from Norfolk Naval Base, Virginia. The test began when one of the two aircraft, BF-2, piloted by Lieutenant Colonel Fred Schenk, made the first shipboard vertical landing on 3 October. The next day, BF-2 executed the first takeoff from the Wasp. Between the two aircraft, 72 short takeoffs and an equal number of vertical landings were made in the three-week trials. The next sea trial is scheduled for 2013 after the Wasp receives additional modifications for F-35B operations.
F-35C: The Marine Corps signed an agreement in March 2011 to take delivery of 80 F-35C carrier-based Lightning IIs. The accord incorporates a plan to provide five Marine Corps F-35C squadrons to the Navy’s carrier air wings. The 80 Marine Corps F-35Cs are in addition to 340 F-35B STOVL aircraft already on order. The additional squadrons also may relieve the Navy of providing strike-fighter squadrons to the Marine Corps Unit Deployment Plan.
The F-35C in 2011 began system tests at Maryland’s Naval Air Station Patuxent River and at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey. Tests were conducted from land-based steam catapults at both facilities, and an F-35C was launched from the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) catapult at Lakehurst. An F-35C performed Jet-Blast Deflector (JBD) testing at Lakehurst to ensure the design is compatible with current aircraft-carrier equipment.
The test teams also investigated an issue with the launch bar not lowering enough to engage flight-deck hardware for the catapult hookup; the piece was redesigned to ensure a greater range of motion. Initial tests also revealed a problem with the F-35C’s arresting-hook design. A reworked system, with a different hook point and stronger tailhook hold-down damper, is being tested in 2012. Sea trials of the F-35C on board a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier are scheduled for 2013.
EA-18G Growler: The first deployment of the Boeing EA-18G Growler was completed on 9 July 2011 as Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 132 Scorpions returned to NAS Whidbey Island, Washington, after completing an eight-month deployment. The expeditionary squadron participated in combat operations in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility (AOR) in Iraq and the U.S. Africa Command AOR operating from Italy in support of NATO operations in Libya. Growlers deployed with the VAQ-141 Shadowhawks on board the USS George H. W. Bush (CVN-77) marked the aircraft’s first sea-based deployment. The Navy is planning to be fully transitioned to the Growler by 2016.
F/A-18E/F Super Hornet: The Navy took delivery of the 500th F/A-18 Super Hornet/EA-18G Growler during ceremonies on 20 April 2011 at the Boeing facility in St. Louis, Missouri.
Boeing also began production of the Distributed Targeting System (DTS) for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in late 2011. DTS provides enhanced targeting capability and uses geo-registration technology to compare images taken from aircraft sensors with an onboard imagery database that results in highly accurate target coordinates. The system is on schedule to achieve initial operational capability (IOC) in January 2013.
E-2D Advanced Hawkeye: Following a Defense Acquisition Board review in April 2011, funding for an additional ten Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft was authorized. The decision came shortly after a VX-20 E-2D made the type’s first carrier landing while operating from the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75). The board’s approval marked the beginning of the E-2D’s initial operational test and evaluation with an IOC scheduled for the first quarter of FY 15. The Navy plans to procure 75 E-2Ds with deliveries ending in 2021. With its advanced search radar, the E-2D can operate in the littorals or over land, and scans a larger area, detects smaller objects, and processes information more quickly than its predecessor, the E-2C. The glass cockpit and tactical operator’s station in the co-pilot position allow the aircraft to accomplish these tasks more easily through improved avionics and computers.
P-8A Poseidon: The Navy continued its testing of the P-8A Poseidon by VX-1 at NAS Patuxent River with four aircraft. The program’s static test plane, S1, completed its test program in early 2011. S2, the fatigue test plane, will begin testing in 2012. The Navy plans to purchase 117 Boeing 737-based P-8A antisubmarine-warfare, antisurface-warfare, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft to replace its P-3 fleet, with IOC in 2013.
P-3C Orion: With the introduction of the P-8A in 2013, the Navy is working hard to keep its fleet of P-3s flying until the end of the decade. The first five operational P-3 Orions were equipped with modernized computer technology and delivered to the Fleet, allowing the P-3 command, control, communications, and computers for antisubmarine warfare program to reach IOC on 27 September. Upgrades to the P-3 include Link 16, which allows for enhanced situational awareness and interoperability with Navy battle groups, other military services, and NATO forces.
Other equipment installed included an international maritime-satellite capability providing encrypted broadband services for the Fleet and a full range of communications services similar to those available on personal computers: chatting, email, web access, and eventually, streaming full-motion video. Although not identical, this capability will lay the groundwork for the introduction of the P-8A and will allow the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft family of systems to work together.
The aftereffects of the “Red Stripe” problems of past years continues to affect the P-3 community. Named after the diagonal red stripe on the airworthiness bulletin that grounded 39 P-3C Orions in December 2007 for structural fatigue, the program has relied on artisans at NAS Jacksonville, Florida’s Fleet Readiness Center Southeast to repair the wings of affected P-3 aircraft.
EP-3E: Although the follow-on EP-X program has been canceled, work continues to keep the existing intelligence-gathering EP-3 aircraft updated until they are retired, sometime around 2020, when the mission is scheduled to be assumed by P-8A Poseidons in concert with the MQ-4C Broad Aerial Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) system and other unmanned aircraft.
L-3 Corporation began design of the Spiral 3 improvements in late 2007, delivering the prototype used for testing in 2010. In 2011 the L-3 Communications Platform Integration division was approved to begin low-rate initial production of three EP-3E Spiral 3–configured aircraft, featuring an upgraded ISR-mission avionics suite. The operational test phase is currently under way, after which a full-rate production decision will be made regarding the modifications of the remaining aircraft in the EP-3E fleet to the Spiral 3 configuration. As part of the modification, L-3 will install state-of-the-art communications-intelligence equipment, replacing older sensors and increasing the aircraft’s networking capabilities.
KC-130J Harvest Hawk: The Harvest Hawk close-air support package maintains the KC-130J’s basic missions, while adding the capability to conduct ISR along with air-to-ground close-air support missions.
The first KC-130J Harvest Hawk kit was deployed with Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 352 in October 2010. The Harvest Hawk system consists of a roll-on/roll-off set of surveillance displays and fire-control electronics coupled with a modular surveillance-and-targeting unit that takes up the rear portion of the inboard left external fuel tank. On the left wing, replacing the outboard aerial refueling pod, is an M299 missile rack for four AGM-114 Hellfires and/or up to 16 Defense-Advanced GPS-Receiver laser-guided 2.75-inch rockets. This leaves the left wing carrying the weapons and some fuel, while the right wing retains full aerial-refueling capabilities. Some aircraft have deployed with a ramp-mounted ten-tube “Gunslinger” launcher for gravity-dropped weapons, but that option requires the crew to depressurize the cabin and don oxygen masks. Current tactics are severely limited by the time required for the aircrew to go on oxygen, depressurize the aircraft, and lower the cargo ramp prior to releasing standoff precision-guided munitions from a ramp-mounted missile rack. The entire system also must be removed for cargo operations.
Undergoing testing in 2011 and finally fielded in February 2012, the Marine Corps took delivery of its first Harvest Hawk modified with a pressurized, standoff-precision/precision-guided munitions launcher called the Derringer Door. The modified KC-130J paratroop door provides the capability to load, launch, and reload standoff precision-guided munitions while the aircraft remains pressurized. The Derringer Door and storage rack do not interfere with the KC-130J cargo system.
AV-8B Harrier: In November 2011, the U.K. Ministry of Defence sold its remaining 72 Harrier-IIs (63 GR.7/9/9As and nine two-seat T.12/12As), along with spare parts, to the U.S. Marine Corps for $180 million. Britain retired its Royal Air Force and Royal Navy Harrier aircraft in 2010. The aircraft will not be flying again but will be used as a source of spare parts for the Marines’ AV-8B Harrier IIs. The sale is designed help the Marine Corps operate its Harriers into the mid-2020s and assisting in bridging the gap as two-seat F/A-18D Hornet strike fighters are stricken from service in the coming years.
Tilt-Rotor Aircraft
MV-22B Osprey: Production of new-build MV-22 Osprey Block C aircraft began in April 2010 in Philadelphia, with first delivery to the Marine Corps in January 2012. The MV-22 Block C upgrade incorporates weather radar, an improved environmental-control system, troop-commander situational-awareness display, upgraded standby flight-instrument and GPS repeater, and additional chaff/flare equipment.
Rotary-Wing Aircraft
CH-53K Super Stallion: Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation opened a new facility at its West Palm Beach Florida Assembly and Flight Operations (FAFO) campus in March 2011, establishing experimental assembly-line operations for the new CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter. Five System Development and Demonstration prototype aircraft will be built at the facility, with two additional airframe test articles produced at Sikorsky’s main manufacturing plant in Stratford, Connecticut. Once assembled, the aircraft will be delivered to the Sikorsky Development Flight Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, for flight testing. The Marine Corps plans to procure more than 200 of the new helicopters. The CH-53K will maintain virtually the same footprint as its CH-53E predecessor, but with significantly better performance in all areas. The program is expected to make the first flight in FY 14 and attain IOC in FY 18.
General Electric delivered the first GE38 engine for the CH-53K Ground Test Vehicle after two years of testing. Selected by Sikorsky in 2006, the GE38 provides significant performance increases over the T64 of the CH-53E, and has 63 percent fewer parts for lower operating and support costs.
AH-1Z Viper: The AH-1Z, which will replace the current AH-1W, achieved IOC ahead of schedule in February 2011. The AH-1Z has numerous improvements including a new four-bladed composite-rotor system, performance-matched transmissions, a four-bladed tail rotor and drive system, upgraded landing gear, pylon structural modifications, two additional wing store stations on larger stub wings, upgraded landing gear, and a fully integrated glass cockpit.
The H-1 upgrade program has resulted in an 84 percent commonality of major component parts between the AH-1Z and UH-1Y utility helicopters. Bell Helicopter is contracted to remanufacture 131 AH-1Ws into AH-1Zs and build 58 new AH-1Zs for the Marine Corps.
The first deployment of the AH-1Z and its sister aircraft, the UH-1Y, occurred (with four of the former and three of the latter) in November 2011 on board the USS Makin Island (LHD-8) with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). While this is the first AH-1Z deployment, the UH-1Y was first deployed in 2009 with the 13th MEU and has experienced four deployments in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
Lighter-Than-Air Vehicles
Persistent Ground Surveillance System (PGSS): Developed by the Navy’s Special Surveillance Program Office, PGSS is providing critical situational awareness for forward-operating bases in Afghanistan. PGSS was developed by the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) in 2009 in response to a request by U.S. Army Intelligence to provide an “eye in the sky” for surveillance around forward bases. The NAWCAD solution was PGSS, consisting of a tethered aerostat—an inflatable airship equipped with a gondola to carry electro-optical and infrared sensors—and a ground-control station. The aerostat is inflated with helium and, held in place by a tether, floats several thousand feet above the ground. By sending continuous full-motion video to the operators in ground station, they can see what is going on for several miles around a base without sending manned patrols. Small-arms fire may hit it, but a puncture won’t cause it to fail, as the ground crew can detect a decrease in pressure and compensate for it, allowing the PGSS to maintain altitude. A PGSS can operate at a cost per hour of about 1 percent of that of a drone.
The first system was deployed to Afghanistan in 2010, and now at least 35 PGSS sites are operational. The PGSS deploys in-theater with a Navy Reserve officer as officer in charge and contractor personnel.
MZ-3A: The U.S. Navy’s only manned airship, the MZ-3A advanced flying laboratory, received markings and color celebrating the centennial of naval aviation in October 2011. Historic Hangar One at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, was the setting where Navy officials rededicated the only airship currently in active Navy flying service. Lakehurst was once a site of the Navy’s lighter-than air-program and operated there from 1921 to 1962. The airship is assigned to Naval Research Laboratory Military Support Division Scientific Development Squadron One (VXS-1) at NAS Patuxent River. The MZ-3A is 178 feet long, capable of flying up to 9,500 feet with a cruise speed of 45 knots. The ship is fitted with two Lycoming engines and has space for one pilot and nine passengers.
The MZ-3A is used as a testbed for ISR sensors that require a stable and vibration-free testing environment at 40 percent the cost of fixed- or rotary-wing aircraft. The Navy also used the MZ-3A in the Gulf of Mexico to assist the U.S. Coast Guard during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill recovery operation in 2010.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
MQ-8B Fire Scout: Two Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Fire Scouts were deployed on the USS Halyburton (FFG-40) in early 2011, providing ISR support to special-operations forces and U.S. Navy antipiracy actions on the unmanned helicopter’s second deployment. One of them was lost to enemy fire and went down over Libya on 21 June.
A team of U.S. Navy sailors and Northrop Grumman employees were deployed in May 2011 for land-based operations in Afghanistan.
Plans to arm the basic MQ-8B Fire Scout have been approved. The Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System laser-guided 70-mm rocket will allow ship commanders to identify and engage hostile targets without calling in other aircraft for support. Final delivery of an operational system is expected by March 2013.
MQ-8C Fire-X: Being assessed as a follow-on to the MQ-8B Fire Scout is an unmanned version of the commercial Bell 407 helicopter designated the Northrop Grumman/Bell Helicopter MQ-8C Fire-X. Combining the basic flight-control systems, including the existing ship-installed ground-control station, data links, and automatic recovery system of the Fire Scout, the Fire-X will provide the same capabilities as the Fire Scout, but with better stability in bad weather in addition to extended range, payload, cargo-hauling, and weapons capabilities. The Fire-X demonstrator made its first flight on 10 December 2010 at the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.
X-47B: The Navy awarded the Unmanned Combat Air System Aircraft Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) prime contract to Northrop Grumman in August 2007. The six-year contract called for the development of two X-47B fighter-sized unmanned aircraft to demonstrate carrier launches and recoveries in addition to autonomous aerial refueling in 2014 after carrier integration and at-sea trials.
On 4 February 2011, the first X-47B UCAS-D aircraft (AV-1) completed its first flight at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and made envelope expansion flights there before moving by truck to Pax River on 20 December. A second X-47B aircraft (AV-2), which first flew on 22 November, is scheduled to arrive at Pax River in early 2012. AV-2 is identical AV-1 except that it will be equipped with aerial refueling equipment. Northrop Grumman plans to use it to demonstrate unmanned air-to-air refueling using both the U.S. Air Force’s boom/receptacle system and the Navy’s probe and drogue.
The UCAS-D team will conduct shore-based carrier-suitability tests at Pax River in 2012 in preparation of carrier trials in 2013. Also being developed are precision-navigation computers and upgraded guidance, navigation, and control software to allow the X-47B to make precision landings on a moving carrier deck.
In addition to testing of the X-47B airframe, parallel development continues on the integration of the system into the carrier environment and to aerial refueling of the unmanned aircraft.
In a test conducted on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69), a VX-23 F/A-18D accomplished the first carrier touchdown of a surrogate aircraft on 2 July 2011, emulating an unmanned vehicle. Along with the F/A-18, the test team has employed a Beech King Air surrogate aircraft, giving the team a low-cost test bed to evaluate the ability of the UCAS-D avionics and ship systems to execute carrier-operations procedures. The King Air is used to test system functionality that does not require actually landing on a ship.
Also being developed is the aerial-refueling system for the X-47B. The technologies to refuel unmanned aircraft in flight are being developed to enable the AV-2 to test refueling procedures for both Navy- and Air Force–style techniques in 2014.
RQ-4 BAMS Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS): The Navy took delivery of three retired USAF RQ-4A Block 10 Global Hawks in September 2011 to act as spare parts for the Navy’s two Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Demonstration (BAMS-D) unmanned aircraft. In August, the Navy awarded Northrop Grumman a contract for continued operations and maintenance for the BAMS-D aircraft.
Marking significant advancement in its maritime-surveillance program, the Navy began test flights in December with a Gulfstream testbed aircraft equipped with the Multi-Function Active Sensor (MFAS) radar system, the primary sensor on the MQ-4C BAMS UAS.
The MQ-4C BAMS program is on track for IOC in FY 15. BAMS will operate as an adjunct to the P-8A Poseidon and is a key piece of the overall replacement strategy for the P-3C Orion.
Cargo Resupply UAS: The Cargo Resupply UAS was created as a result of the Marine Corps’ requirements to “get trucks off the roads” in combat zones and minimize the threat of improvised explosive devices to logistics convoys. The system provides the capability for dispersed forces on the battlefield to receive supplies without using manned ground vehicles.
In December 2010, the Navy awarded contracts to two suppliers, Lockheed Martin/Kaman for the K-MAX and Boeing/Frontier Aviation for the A-160 Hummingbird, to compete for a deployment in support of troops in Afghanistan. After completing testing at Pax River, the K-MAX and A-160 were sent to Yuma Proving Ground for an August 2011 test. Under the guidance of Commander Operational Test and Evaluation Force, Marines from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 1 acted as operational commanders and forward-operating base controllers for a seven-day period with temperatures, flight profile, and terrain almost identical to those planned for deployment.
Results from the test confirmed that K-MAX exceeded the Navy and Marines’ requirement to carry 6,000 pounds of cargo per day over a five-day period. The A-160T encountered technical problems, prompting a 60-day stop-work order in December, with no plans to send the Hummingbird to Afghanistan. The A-160T is also under a separate development contract with the Army for ISR missions.
The helicopters were shipped to Afghanistan in November and a VMU-1 detachment completed its first unmanned aerial system cargo delivery in a combat zone using a helicopter in Afghanistan on 17 December 2011.
Aircraft Carriers
The USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78): Construction continued on the new class of aircraft carrier at the Newport News Shipbuilding (a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries) facility. Improvements over the older Nimitz-class ships include a redesigned flight deck and island structure, increased power-generation capability, electromagnetic aircraft-launch and -recovery equipment, and decreased manpower requirements, along with improved radar and electronic systems. The Ford’s keel was laid on 14 November 2009 with a projected delivery to the Navy in 2015.
The USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79): Preparations for construction of the second Ford-class aircraft carrier began in December 2010. On 25 February 2011, the Navy conducted the “First Cut of Steel” ceremony at Newport News. The Department of Defense announced that the ship would be named the John F. Kennedy on 29 May 2011, the 94th birthday of her namesake. She will be the second aircraft carrier named after the 35th President of the United States; the first, CV-67, served from 1967 to 2007.
The USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72): The Lincoln departed her homeport of Naval Station Everett, Washington, on 7 December 2011 for an around-the-world deployment that will take her to the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean Sea, and finally to Newport News to begin her refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH). Planned upgrades include the new advanced arresting gear (AAG) that uses electromagnetic force instead of hydraulics to recover fixed-wing aircraft. The Lincoln will be the first Nimitz-class carrier to receive the AAG.
Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS): The revolutionary EMALS is being installed in all Ford-class aircraft carriers, beginning with the first ship in the class. Instead of launching aircraft with 1950s-technology steam catapults, EMALS will use stored energy and solid-state electrical-power conversion, permitting computer control, monitoring, and automation.
In early 2012, the San Diego–based General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems Group marked the delivery of the 12th and final EMALS energy-storage system motor-generator set to Newport News Shipbuilding for installation in the Ford.
Advanced Arresting Gear: AAG replaces the current Mk 7 arresting gear’s hydraulic machinery with an electric motor-based system. Designed by General Atomics, the AAG allows for carrier recovery of a broader range of aircraft, reduces ship manning and maintenance, and provides a higher reliability and safety margin. The current hydraulic-ram and rotary-engine design is replaced by simple energy-absorbing water turbines coupled to a large induction motor, providing better control of arresting forces. AAG is currently being built into the Ford and subsequent ships of the class. In addition, the system will be retrofitted into the Lincoln when she enters RCOH in 2013, as well as newer Nimitz-class carriers as they too are brought to the Newport News Shipbuilding facility for refueling and overhaul.
Weapons
Next-Generation Jammer (NGJ): Originally planned as the successor to the ALQ-99 active-jamming system currently used by the EA-6B and EA-18G and proposed for use on the Marine Corps’ F-35B, the NGJ is now a program in flux. Although it seems to have adequate funding, budget cuts on the airframes it will serve have driven the direction of the NGJ’s usage and design. Early problems with the F-35B resulted in money budgeted for electronic integration of the NGJ into the aircraft’s avionics being moved to other areas. The latest focus now appears to be on the EA-18G and not so much the F-35 as a primary airframe for the NGJ. The use of unmanned aircraft as carrier-based assets has been gaining traction in the Navy’s shipboard complement, and now there are ongoing studies as how to best incorporate NGJ into this platform. An unmanned airframe to carry the active jammer package into the “dragon’s teeth” of an enemy’s air defense and neutralizing it without putting humans at risk is very attractive to warfare planners. With a proposed IOC in the 2018–20 range, PMA-234 is gathering all the information it can from industry and will end the Technology Maturation phase in early 2012 and begin the Technology Demonstration phase, which will end with the four competing teams being reduced to one in 2013. Currently BAE, Raytheon, ITT-Exelis, and Northrop Grumman are the participating contractors. Boeing, which had been teamed with ITT, withdrew from direct NGJ development to focus on EA-18G integration.
Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM): The AGM-88E AARGM, produced by Alliant Techsystems, is an upgrade of the AGM-88 high-speed anti-radiation missile. The addition of a digital homing receiver, an active terminal radar, improved countermeasures and inertial navigation, and a GPS system gives the AARGM a greatly improved capability to destroy enemy air-defense radars. IOC is scheduled for FY 12.
Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM): The precision-guided JAGM is a versatile weapon to replace the AGM-119 Hellfire and AGM-65 Maverick missiles in the sea-service inventory. It is an all-weather, direct-attack, 100-pound-class missile using a tri-mode seeker (semi-active laser, millimeter-wave radar, and imaging infrared) and a multipurpose warhead designed to destroy both stationary and moving targets. With the Army as the lead service, the program received formal approval for development in January 2008. Two industry teams, Raytheon-Boeing and Lockheed Martin, were finishing the technology-development phase, and a contract was scheduled to be awarded in 2012. However, with the impending federal budget cuts, the program is on life support, with only $10 million given to run the program for 2012, leaving its final production status in limbo.
WGU-54/B Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II): The APKWS II is a program to incorporate a precision-guidance system to the existing Hydra 70, 2.75-inch (70-mm) rocket motor and warhead by placing a laser-guided seeker on existing rockets in the Navy’s inventory to provide a low-cost, mid-range weapon that lends itself to urban warfare. Conversion of existing weapons is attractive because of cost, their carriage by both helicopters and fighters, more precision weapons per platform, low collateral damage, and the employment of large weapon stockpiles that couldn’t previously be used because of strict rules of engagement. Accurate to within six feet of an aim point, an APKWS can destroy targets at ranges of one to three miles including personnel, vehicles up to and including armored personnel carriers, and structures. IOC is expected in 2012.
AGM-154 JSOW: Raytheon’s Joint Standoff Weapon (AGM-154C-1 JSOW) is the Navy’s first networked air-launched, antiship weapon. JSOW is a family of low-cost, air-to-ground weapons that employs an integrated GPS-inertial navigation system and terminal imaging infrared seeker, guiding the weapon to the target. JSOW C-1 adds moving-maritime-target capability and a two-way Link-16 datalink with a range of more than 60 nautical miles. The JSOW C-1’s IOC is scheduled for 2013
Raytheon is using company funding to develop a powered version of the JSOW with the potential to fly more than 300 nautical miles. Testing of a tactically configured JSOW-ER in scheduled for 2012. The JSOW-ER will have the same shape and weight of the glide JSOW.
AGM-65E2/L Laser Maverik: The Navy completed developmental and operational testing of the newest variant of the Raytheon laser-guided AGM-65 Maverick missile, which provides the capability to attack rapidly moving targets in urban environments. The AGM-65E2/L has an enhanced laser seeker and new software that reduces the risk of collateral damage. The missile can be guided by laser designators from the carrying aircraft, by another aircraft or by ground-based designators.
Low-Cost Guided Imaging Rocket (LOGIR): The LOGIR is a weapons system under development for the Navy in a joint program with South Korea. The program aims to provide a precision-guided 2.75-inch (70-mm) rocket for use with existing Hydra 70 systems in service, as such it has many similarities with the APKWS program. The principal difference between the systems is that while APKWS uses terminal laser homing requiring the target to be “painted” until impact, LOGIR homes in on an image supplied by the launching aircraft, making it a true fire-and-forget weapon.
GBU-44/B Viper Strike: Northrop Grumman was awarded a contract for additional GBU-44/BViper Strike munitions to equip the Marine Corps KC-130J Harvest Hawk aircraft. Viper Strike is a glide munition capable of stand-off precision attack using GPS guidance and a semi-active laser seeker. Its small size, precision guidance, and agility make for a low-collateral-damage weapon. All the Viper Strike munitions on Harvest Hawk now carry the latest software load that greatly enhances the weapon’s effectiveness against moving targets. During flight testing at China Lake, California, Viper Strike proved this new capability by scoring multiple hits against moving vehicles.
In late 2011 MBDA Inc., the wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of European missile manufacturer MBDA, purchased Northrop Grumman’s Viper Strike munitions business.
AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder: The Navy completed live-fire test missions with the AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder in August 2011. The tests demonstrated the Block II’s ability to deliver expanded air-to-air warfare capabilities including improved lock-on-after-launch, extended range lofting fly-out profile, two-way data link, and improved all-weather laser fusing against small targets. AIM-9X Block II is scheduled to enter operational test in spring 2012.