By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News
It was once described by a military website as the “stealth munition that has China freaked out.”
Now, the Pentagon has conducted an initial flight test that integrates the AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile with the F-35B stealth fighter jet. The test took place at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland.
A news release from Lockheed Martin, which makes both the missile and the F-35, gave few details about the test. But a similar test last September with an F-35C involved an evaluation of “flutter, loads and flying qualities with two AGM-158 loaded on external stations,” according to the Pentagon.
This week’s flight marks the start of the missile’s flight sciences test program, which will lead to the AGM-158 being fully integrated on the stealth fighter.
“The integration of these systems further demonstrates how we continue to add the most advanced capabilities to the F-35 to ensure it will remain a dominant force, owning the skies for decades to come,” said Chauncey McIntosh, Lockheed’s vice president and general manager of the F-35 program.
The LRASM is a stealth anti-ship cruise missile derived from the AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile. Development began in 2009 as the Navy searched for a weapon with more sophisticated autonomous targeting capabilities that the Harpoon anti-ship missile, which went into service nearly a half-century ago.
Lockheed says the LRASM’s technology will reduce dependence on ISR platforms, network links and global positioning system navigation. It uses an infrared sensor system for improved target acquisition capability.
The missile has a range of 200 nautical miles, which means it could reach inside Chinese held territory in the Indo-Pacific. Writing in The National Interest, national security analyst Brandon J. Weichert said that US military planners hope that the LRASM “can restore naval deterrence, which has been destabilized by the rapid military advances at sea of American rivals such as China.”
Weichert writes that the missile is “one of only a handful of systems that the US military can reliably deploy to defeat China.”
In addition to being used with the F-35, the LRASM can also be launched from the F/A-18F and the B-2 bomber.
Last April, the Navy and Lockheed conducted what it called a historic test of the missile, with four of the weapons in flight simultaneously. Lockheed described the test as a “graduation event” for the missile’s latest configuration.
