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Description

Military and industry representatives recently marked the latest developmental milestone for the multi-service Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM / “Jag-um”) program, which represents the next generation air-to-ground missile that will replace HELLFIRE and air-launched TOW missiles on Army, Navy and Marine Corps attack helicopters and unmanned aircraft systems.

JAGM combines onboard millimeter wave radar with a semi-active laser sensor to enhance attack capabilities against stationary and moving targets with both precision point or fire-and-forget targeting.

The new missile design uses the same launcher as the current HELLFIRE II missile, and initial integration efforts will be focused on the Army’s AH-64 Apache and the Marine Corps AH-1 “Zulu” platforms.

JAGM’s latest developmental milestone couples two sequential events: a July 29 Acquisition Decision Memorandum from Mr. Frank Kendall, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, that authorized the program to enter its Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase; and the subsequent July 31 EMD contract award to Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.

The EMD authorization and contract award followed a 27-month Technology Development (TD) phase.

In a briefing to media on August 3, Colonel James Romero, Project Manager for Joint Attack Munition Systems within the US Army Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space, explained that the early part of the TD phase featured two participating contractors – Lockheed Martin and Raytheon – “and then about six to nine months into the effort the Army and the Army Acquisition Executive had to make a difficult choice of only proceeding with one [contractor]. And that was with Lockheed Martin.”

“At that point in time Raytheon had expressed interest to continue competing in the program,” he said. “And we thought they would continue to do that. But…when we released our [Request for Proposals] they chose not to propose for the program.”

Describing the rest of TD phase execution as “100 percent successful,” he described the current program posture as “on track and ready for a successful EMD phase.”

As examples of developmental success achieved during the TD phase, Romero pointed to four successful flight tests: two contractor-funded and two government-funded.

“That’s really the capstone event of anything you do in this kind of program, because you’re really pulling everything together,” Romero offered. “It’s really proving that all the rigor you’ve put into the program has taken out all the risk for execution and actually shows that the system performs.”

According to Lieutenant Colonel Phil Rottenborn, Product Manager for JAGM within Romero’s organization, the first two contractor-funded tests were conducted in 2014, and demonstrated “a JAGM guidance section mated to a HELLFIRE back end with JAGM unique software.”

“The combination of those two tests exercised not only the laser function and the radar function but the fuzing of those two functions together,” he said, noting that both of the successful shots were made against moving truck targets at a range of 6.4 km.

Rottenborn said that the subsequent government tests, which took place at Eglin Air Force Base in spring 2015, “further demonstrated the capability of the missile.”

“Both of these flight tests were against stationary targets – soft skinned pickup trucks,” he explained. “The first primarily demonstrated the semi-active laser seeker and a point detonation warhead. The second was what we call ‘active fire and forget with laser cue,’ which is the fusion of the two modes. The way that works is the missile gets target information from the laser, but the millimeter wave radar also makes its own determination, based on the proximity of the laser, of what the target is. Should the laser ever malfunction or be interrupted, the radar has been tracking the target and can finish the engagement on its own. This second [government] test also had a fuze delay for more destructive effects on the target.”

JAGM’s base EMD contract is valued at $66.3 million dollars, with two additional options for Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) valued at approximately $60 million each. The Army representatives said that approximately 185 missiles will be produced during the base contract, with the two follow-on LRIP awards – which would follow a “Milestone C” decision in “late ’17 or early ‘18” – involving “up to approximately 2600 missiles.”

Colonel Romero emphasized that the EMD phase is “not focused on re-designing anything,” but rather on qualifying a production line and getting through mandatory EMD testing requirements.

Although some notional program schedules identfy follow-on “Increments” that would introduce further expanded capabilities, Romero cautioned, “Right now, no other increments are funded for the program. So this current design – what we call the Increment 1 design – really is the only JAGM design.”

“We do have requirements still for Increments 2 and 3,” he quickly added. “And, as we execute the EMD phase, we will be discussing – of course with Army leadership and with Navy leadership and with our MDA [Milestone Decision Authority] – whether or not we should structure a program to go after the next increment, ‘Increment 2,’ which would add a potential third mode sensor into the seeker and also a longer range motor.”

In the meantime, Initial Operational Capability for JAGM is currently projected for 2018

Description

Military and industry representatives recently marked the latest developmental milestone for the multi-service Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM / “Jag-um”) program, which represents the next generation air-to-ground missile that will replace HELLFIRE and air-launched TOW missiles on Army, Navy and Marine Corps attack helicopters and unmanned aircraft systems.

JAGM combines onboard millimeter wave radar with a semi-active laser sensor to enhance attack capabilities against stationary and moving targets with both precision point or fire-and-forget targeting.

The new missile design uses the same launcher as the current HELLFIRE II missile, and initial integration efforts will be focused on the Army’s AH-64 Apache and the Marine Corps AH-1 “Zulu” platforms.

JAGM’s latest developmental milestone couples two sequential events: a July 29 Acquisition Decision Memorandum from Mr. Frank Kendall, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, that authorized the program to enter its Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase; and the subsequent July 31 EMD contract award to Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.

The EMD authorization and contract award followed a 27-month Technology Development (TD) phase.

In a briefing to media on August 3, Colonel James Romero, Project Manager for Joint Attack Munition Systems within the US Army Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space, explained that the early part of the TD phase featured two participating contractors – Lockheed Martin and Raytheon – “and then about six to nine months into the effort the Army and the Army Acquisition Executive had to make a difficult choice of only proceeding with one [contractor]. And that was with Lockheed Martin.”

“At that point in time Raytheon had expressed interest to continue competing in the program,” he said. “And we thought they would continue to do that. But…when we released our [Request for Proposals] they chose not to propose for the program.”

Describing the rest of TD phase execution as “100 percent successful,” he described the current program posture as “on track and ready for a successful EMD phase.”

As examples of developmental success achieved during the TD phase, Romero pointed to four successful flight tests: two contractor-funded and two government-funded.

“That’s really the capstone event of anything you do in this kind of program, because you’re really pulling everything together,” Romero offered. “It’s really proving that all the rigor you’ve put into the program has taken out all the risk for execution and actually shows that the system performs.”

According to Lieutenant Colonel Phil Rottenborn, Product Manager for JAGM within Romero’s organization, the first two contractor-funded tests were conducted in 2014, and demonstrated “a JAGM guidance section mated to a HELLFIRE back end with JAGM unique software.”

“The combination of those two tests exercised not only the laser function and the radar function but the fuzing of those two functions together,” he said, noting that both of the successful shots were made against moving truck targets at a range of 6.4 km.

Rottenborn said that the subsequent government tests, which took place at Eglin Air Force Base in spring 2015, “further demonstrated the capability of the missile.”

“Both of these flight tests were against stationary targets – soft skinned pickup trucks,” he explained. “The first primarily demonstrated the semi-active laser seeker and a point detonation warhead. The second was what we call ‘active fire and forget with laser cue,’ which is the fusion of the two modes. The way that works is the missile gets target information from the laser, but the millimeter wave radar also makes its own determination, based on the proximity of the laser, of what the target is. Should the laser ever malfunction or be interrupted, the radar has been tracking the target and can finish the engagement on its own. This second [government] test also had a fuze delay for more destructive effects on the target.”

JAGM’s base EMD contract is valued at $66.3 million dollars, with two additional options for Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) valued at approximately $60 million each. The Army representatives said that approximately 185 missiles will be produced during the base contract, with the two follow-on LRIP awards – which would follow a “Milestone C” decision in “late ’17 or early ‘18” – involving “up to approximately 2600 missiles.”

Colonel Romero emphasized that the EMD phase is “not focused on re-designing anything,” but rather on qualifying a production line and getting through mandatory EMD testing requirements.

Although some notional program schedules identfy follow-on “Increments” that would introduce further expanded capabilities, Romero cautioned, “Right now, no other increments are funded for the program. So this current design – what we call the Increment 1 design – really is the only JAGM design.”

“We do have requirements still for Increments 2 and 3,” he quickly added. “And, as we execute the EMD phase, we will be discussing – of course with Army leadership and with Navy leadership and with our MDA [Milestone Decision Authority] – whether or not we should structure a program to go after the next increment, ‘Increment 2,’ which would add a potential third mode sensor into the seeker and also a longer range motor.”

In the meantime, Initial Operational Capability for JAGM is currently projected for 2018