Lockheed Martin Snags Joint Common Missile
Aviation Week & Space Technology
05/10/2004, page 34
Robert Wall
Washington
Douglas Barrie
London
Selection of Lockheed Martin for Hellfire successor likely will
deepen U.K. quandary
Common Sense
Lockheed Martin's victory in the Pentagon's multibillion-dollar
Joint Common Missile program will compound Britain's difficulties
in eventually choosing whether to pursue transatlantic or European
paths to meet its requirement.
London is a junior partner in the Joint Common Missile (JCM), but
is effectively running a three-pronged approach to fulfilling its
needs: involvement in JCM, domestic research and development under
its own Common Missile effort, and exploring a collaborative
European development.
The U.K. JCM contribution is about $3 million a year, keeping a
toehold in the program, as it mulls its options. This summer is
also likely to see subsystems development work contracted for on
its national development effort. The British Defense Ministry is
believed to want to be in a position to have major component
hardware, including sensor and motor elements, in a prototype form
by 2007.
THE WINNING Lockheed Martin team includes Anglo-French propellant
specialist Roxcel, which will provide the advanced motor-fill for
the Aerojet boost-sustain motor. Any U.K. solution to its missile
requirement would likely also include its own solid-propulsion
specialist.
Having won the development contract for the JCM, Lockheed Martin
has little more than a year to demonstrate to top Pentagon
officials that it can deliver on performance and cost promises.
Although the development phase is four years long, acting Pentagon
acquisition czar Michael W. Wynne has instructed the U.S. Army to
deliver a progress report in 12-14 months.
Rick Edwards, Lockheed Martin's director for Tactical Missiles,
notes that many of the needed component demonstrations have already
been accomplished, although captive carry missions are still
outstanding. Missile firings would occur during the later phase of
development.
The Army last week awarded Lockheed Martin an initial $53 million
for the system development and demonstration phase, which is likely
to grow to $1.6 billion before development and the first two lots
of low-rate production are complete. Lockheed Martin trumped Boeing
and Raytheon competitors in one of the most desirable tactical
missile competitions. The Pentagon expects to buy more than 54,000
missiles, bringing the estimated cost for development and
production to above $5 billion. JCM is supposed to replace the
Hellfire, Tow and Maverick air-to-ground missiles.
JCM is designed to greatly expand the range at which pilots would
be able to attack ground targets, with helicopters able to strike
at 16 km. (10 mi.) and higher and faster flying fixed-wing aircraft
at 28 km. It would be integrated on several helicopters and the
F/A-18E/F, although additional platforms, such as the F-35 Joint
Strike Fighter, are being considered.
The Army leads JCM development, although the U.S. Navy and Marines
are partners. The U.S. Air Force is still on the fence, largely
because it wants to avoid paying part of the development bill,
according to USAF representatives.
Two of the main features of the JCM are its tri-mode seeker and
extended burn-time motor. The seeker includes a semi-active laser,
imaging infrared sensor, and millimeter wave radar for
fire-and-forget operations. The Army has the option during the next
year to ask Lockheed Martin to pick a second seeker provider as a
risk-mitigation strategy.
While Lockheed Martin integrates the seeker, it is working with San
Diego-based Remec on the millimeter wave component, while EMS in
Atlanta, Ga., will supply the radar electronics and the antenna.
CMC Electronics will deliver the focal plane array for the imaging
infrared seeker.
Two JCMs would fit on EDO Corp.'s Joint Dual Rail Launcher, while
two of the launchers can be attached to a BRU-55 launcher to allow
four missiles to be carried on a single wing station of a
fixed-wing aircraft.
During the previous concept development phase, Lockheed Martin
demonstrated the missile's use against hardened urban targets to
validate the multi-target warhead design. JCM will include a
precursor charge detonation and main charge penetration capability,
with a time-delayed fuzing. The warhead can function as a
shaped-charge against armored vehicles and as a blast fragmentation
system when used against softer targets, including buildings, small
boats or lightly armored vehicles. General Dynamics-Ordnance and
Tactical Systems and PerkinElmer provide the warhead
subsystem.
Lockheed Martin's missile configuration allows room for growth for
features such as a data link. The latter could be critical for F-35
internal carriage, because that could require the missile to have
lock-on-after-launch capability.
Missile production would take place at Lockheed Martin's facility
in Troy, Ala., where the company builds several other tactical
missiles including Hellfire and Javelin.
During the previous phase, Lockheed Martin completed a fit check
with a mock JCM on an F/A-18.Credit: LOCKHEED MARTIN MISSILES AND
FIRE CONTROL