Lockheed, Navy Test Ship-Deck Firing Tech for New LRASM

by Kris Osborn

From a new deck-mounted launcher as a way to expand options for the weapon, increase possible deployments and widen the range of potential targets, industry officials said.

A deck-mounted firing technology enables LRASM to fire from a much wider range of Navy ships, to include the Littoral Combat Ship and its more survivable variant – a Frigate.

The flight test, at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, was designed to demonstrate the missile’s ability to conduct an angled launch from a newly designed topside canister, replicating a ship-launched environment.

The missile has previously been test fired from a Navy ship-firing technology called Vertical Launch Systems currently on both cruisers and destroyers – as a way to provide long range surface-to-surface and surface-to-air offensive firepower. The adaptation of the surface-launcher weapon, which could be operational by the mid-2020s, would use the same missile that fires from a Mk 41 Vertical Launch System and capitalize upon some existing Harpoon-launching technology, Lockheed developers explained.

“During the test, the LRASM, its Mk-114 booster and booster adapter ejected cleanly from the topside launcher using the same launch control and launch sequencer software currently employed by the Mk-41 Vertical Launch System (VLS),” a Lockheed statement said.

The LRASM test-firing took place as Lockheed received an $86.5 million contract from the U.S. Navy and Air Force for LRASM production. A Lockheed statement said the contract marks the first production award for the air-launched variant of LRASM, and includes 23 missiles and engineering support.

The Navy will likely examine a range of high-tech missile possibilities to meet its requirement for a long-range anti-ship missile — and Lockheed is offering LRASM as an option for the Navy to consider.