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Lockheed test fires four Long-Range Anti-Ship
Missiles simultaneously
By Ryan Finnerty9
April 2024
·
Save articleMilitary
airframer and munitions producer Lockheed Martin continues to advance the
company’s stealthy Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), recently test firing
four of the ship-killing weapons simultaneously.
Lockheed on 3
April announced it had supported the US Navy (USN) during the LRASM’s 12th
integrated test event, which saw four of the cruise missiles fired at once, a
flight profile Lockheed describes as “historic”.
The LRASM can be
air-launched or fired from naval surface ships and ground-based systems.
While Lockheed
does not reveal specifics about the test, such as which aircraft type launched
the LRASMs, the company says all mission objectives were met.
“The US Navy was
able to demonstrate the weapon’s inherent high-end lethality from mission
planning through kill chain integration and its effects on the target,”
Lockheed says.
Source: Lockheed Martin
The Long-Range
Anti-Ship Missile is capable of being carried by the US Navy’s F/A-18 Super
Hornet fighter and the US Air Force’s Boeing B-1B heavy-bomber
The first LRASM
was delivered to the USN in 2018, with low-rate production ongoing since
then. The ship-killing cruise missile is expected to be one of the most
important weapons for the USA, should conflict ignite in the Western Pacific.
In 2022, war games conducted
by the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies found an
adequate supply of LRASMs would be essential to defending Taiwan against
invasion by China, which could feature hundreds of enemy surface ships in the
waters surrounding the disputed island.
According to the
USN, LRASM uses semi-autonomous guidance algorithms to identify and pinpoint
targets from “less precise” coordinate data. This in turn reduces the service’s
dependency on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms,
communications network links and GPS-based navigation when conducting strikes.
“When operational,
LRASM will provide the first increment of a next-generation offensive
anti-surface weapon,” Naval Air Systems Command says. “[It] will play a
significant role in ensuring military access to operate in open ocean and the
littorals due to its enhanced ability to discriminate and conduct tactical
engagements from extended ranges.”
Source: Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin’s
ship-killing LRASM stealthy, subsonic cruise missile is expected to play a
critical role in any conflict in the Indo-Pacific
During the CSIS
Taiwan scenario war games, evaluators found long-range bombers, including
Boeing B-52s and Boeing B-1s, proved particularly effective when armed with
LRASM.
Currently, the US
Air Force’s Boeing B-1B heavy bomber is certificated to deploy LRASMs, as are
navy Boeing F/A-18E/F strike fighters.
Lockheed has also
been pursuing type approval with its own multi-service F-35 stealth fighter and
the Boeing P-8 maritime patrol aircraft.
The US Air Force
had at one point been pursuing LRASM certification for its Boeing B-52 heavy
bombers, but Lockheed in 2023 said that effort was no longer underway.
The company assembles
both the LRASM and the air-to-ground Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile in
Troy, Alabama. In 2022, Lockheed completed work on a second production line in Troy, boosting capacity for
the two weapon systems.
Lockheed has said
it aims to eventually deliver more than 1,000 missiles annually.
“We have continued
to invest in the design and development of LRASM’s anti-surface warfare
capabilities,” says Lisbeth Vogelpohl, LRASM programme director at Lockheed’s
Missiles and Fire Control division.
The USN’s fiscal year 2025 budget
documents, which describe LRASM as the most urgently needed anti-ship weapon
system, indicate the service plans to continue developing the next iteration of
the missile – known as LRASM C-3 – that boasts extend range, advanced
survivability and beyond line of sight communications.
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