Long-range design among three of company’s weapon programmes facing axe

Lockheed Martin’s AGM-158A Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) programme is proposed for termination under a $408 billion version of the US defence spending bill passed by US House of Representatives appropriators.

If the cut is approved by the US Senate and the Bush administration, the US Air Force’s $3.5 billion JASSM programme could be the third Lockheed weapon system to be cancelled this year.

The Bush administration has also proposed cancelling the com­pany’s Joint Common Missile and Wind-Corrected Munitions Dispenser Extended Range programmes, with neither request so far blocked by Congress.

The JASSM programme has battled the House appropriations committee since 2003, with the panel having twice before attempted to sharply reduce its funding, but now calling for its outright termination. “The missile has repeatedly failed reliability and performance tests,” the committee says. The committee last year criticised the missile’s 53.5% success rating in development and operational tests and the weapon has reportedly also failed in two of its five flight tests this year.

The air force has set aside $32 million over three years to solve quality control glitches in the manufacturing process that have led to test failures.

The weapon’s test performance also casts a cloud over the programme’s heritage as a landmark programme of the USAF’s acquisition reform movement of the late-1990s.

Unlike most weapons contracts, the USAF did not impose a list of specifications on Lockheed, which instead accepted total responsibility for system performance under a warranty. The company has received $182 million in production contracts and has delivered around 200 missiles.

Lockheed says it is “working with the air force to address reliability issues”. Ground tests due next month also should “provide us with an excellent opportunity to accelerate the discovery process and identify reliability enhancements for JASSM”, it says.

STEPHEN TRIMBLE/WASHINGTON DC

Source: Flight International