McDonnell Douglas (MDC) delivered the first of up to 700 Stand-off Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) weapons to the US Navy on 17 December. Flight-testing of the SLAM-ER is scheduled to begin in February using a MDC F-18. Five development flights have been planned. The first fully guided test against a target will be conducted during the second flight, planned for October. The gap between the first and second tests is to allow for software upgrades. The company is also planning to introduce an automatic target-cueing capability on the SLAM-ER from 2000.
Source: Flight International