Joint Common Missile is earmarked for final cut, as Pentagon scours for savings

Lockheed Martin says it has eliminated a list of high-risk technology concerns on a $5 billion air-to-ground missile programme that now faces termination by the US Department of Defense (DoD).

The US Army has long been sceptical of the technical maturity for several components needed by the Joint Common Missile (JCM), which integrates a tri-mode seeker, selectable warheads and a pulse-sustain rocket motor into a Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire missile-sized body.

The JCM contract, signed eight months ago, reflected the army's concerns, requiring Lockheed Martin to demonstrate the technical readiness of each major component during a 14-month Phase 1, which is jointly funded with the US Navy and the UK military.

Rick Edwards, Lockheed director of tactical missiles, says that although phase one is continuing, the company has already "retired" the highest-risk item identified by the army - the fuze-warhead detonation sequence in bunker penetration mode. "The key is getting the detonator and timing clock intact through the wall," says Edwards, adding the task has been demonstrated successfully.

Lockheed also successfully tested elements of the Aerojet/Roxel pulse-sustain rocket motor, the General Dynamics multipurpose warhead, and has accumulated hundreds of hours of tests on the tri-mode seeker. The army has passed on an option to qualify a second source for the seeker as a risk-reduction effort, says Edwards. Phase 1 will be capped later this year with a controlled test vehicle flight to demonstrate the JCM's helicopter-launched range of 16km (8.6nm).

But the programme's future became clouded this month, when it emerged as one of the targets of a $30 billion budget restructuring disclosed in internal Pentagon planning documents for fiscal year 2006. The proposal, which needs approval by Congress, would cancel the 54,000-missile JCM order.

One industry source notes the JCM had been the "poster child" of the Pentagon's new capabilities-based investment model. "There are people in high places, asking, 'Huh? You told us this is how you wanted to do business', " the source says.

Edwards says the JCM industry team is being reminded to continue to meet the contractual requirements, hoping that good performance may overturn the DoD's decision.

The Pentagon's budget proposal does not offer an explanation for the JCM termination, but the missile has been criticised in the past as providing yet another weapon for destroying tanks, when the military already has several dozen options, including a fresh and upgraded Hellfire inventory.

But JCM's backers say the weapon's tri-mode seeker offers a unique capability against moving targets. Laser-designated weapons are quickly becoming outdated by countermeasure technology, they say. JCM's multiple tracking options allow the weapon to continue homing on a moving target, despite countermeasures or bad weather.

STEPHEN TRIMBLE / WASHINGTON DC

Source: Flight International