Bron: Lockheed Martin & BAE Systems
According to information released on July 26, 2021, BAE Systems has received a $117 million contract to produce next-generation missile seekers for the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), a precision-guided anti-ship missile designed to give the U.S. Navy the ability to strike high-value targets from long range while avoiding counter-fire.
LRASM: Long-range anti-surface cruise missile.
LRASM is a long range, precision-guided anti-ship missile leveraging off of the successful JASSM-ER heritage, and is designed to meet the needs of U.S. Navy and Air Force warfighters. Armed with a penetrator and blast fragmentation warhead, LRASM employs precision routing and guidance, day or night in all weather conditions. The missile employs a multi-modal sensor suite, weapon data link, and enhanced digital anti-jam Global Positioning System to detect and destroy specific targets within a group of numerous ships at sea.
Multi-platform, multi-role, multi-mission.
Lockheed Martin is currently executing on the Accelerated Acquisition contract for the LRASM Deployment Office. This contract is further maturing the technologies that will be delivered as an early operational capability in LRASM for the USAF B-1B and USN F/A-18E/F in 2018 and 2019 respectively. This operational capability will provide our warfighter with the solution to their anti-surface warfare capability gap. We have begun the integration efforts onto the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Fit and mass properties checks were conducted at Pax River Naval Base with the U.S. Navy and captive-carry flight tests took place in 4Q15. We are also investing company funds to reduce risk of a surface-launch variant that will be used by the VLS currently in the fleet. LRASM technology will reduce dependence on ISR platforms, network links, and GPS navigation in aggressive electronic warfare environments. This advanced guidance operation means the weapon can use gross target cueing data to find and destroy its pre-defined target in denied environments. Precision lethality against surface and land targets ensures the system will become an important addition to the US Navy warfighter’s arsenal. LRASM provides range, survivability, and lethality that no other current system provides.
Future.
In the future LRASM also will launch from the F-35 Lighting II joint strike fighter, as well as from the Navy Mark 41 shipboard Vertical Launch System. The missile travels at high subsonic speeds, and likely will give way in the future to expected new generations of hypersonic missiles. Submarine-launched versions are under consideration.