flateric said:JASSM-XR
flateric said:JASSM-XR
Lockheed Martin is now working on an improved wing design for the JASSM-ER that will "significantly" extend its range, though no details have been announced yet. The company has considered a "JASSM-XR (Extra Extended Range)" variant that would double the range again to over 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles), but would only be carried on bombers and heavy strike aircraft. The JASSM-XR design would be stretched to 6.3 meters (20 feet 8 inches) and feature a fixed canard to ensure flight trim. At the other end of the scale, the company has considered a shortened variant, the "JASSM-SR", that could be carried in the internal weapons bays of stealthy strike aircraft.
Development of the more than 1,850km-range XR cruise missile is continuing apace, with Lockheed revealing it began windtunnel testing last February with a 5% scale model of the JASSM derivative. With an overall length of 6.3m (20.8ft), compared with the JASSM-ER’s 4.2m, the XR features a fixed canard foreplane and folding main wing. The canard is required to ensure the single turbofan-powered missile maintains a stable flight profile and to compensate for the weight of the Lockheed-designed 540kg warhead. Bigum says the design “preserves the low observable characteristics that we have brought in from the JASSM, even with the canards”.
Detailed concept work began in early 2004 with the aim of providing an alternative means of engaging and destroying hardened and deeply buried targets, with the company-funded development now being pitched as a potential new-start USAF ACTD for fiscal year 2007. About 80% of the JASSM design’s electronics would be reapplied in the basic XR missile, although Pappafotis says the project provides an opportunity to explore alternative warheads, datalinks, non-co-operative target identification technology and precision guidance systems with reduced reliance on GPS. The missile would not use a terminal seeker under current concepts, instead receiving target updates from USAF Northrop E-8 JSTARS aircraft via datalink or satellite.
The weapon’s rocket-boosted penetrator warhead will have a velocity of about 2,300ft/s (700m/s), says Pappafotis, who adds that the charge will be “going in [at] better than Mach 2”. If fielded, the XR cruise missile would be carried by the USAF’s Northrop B-2 and Boeing B-52 bombers, which, respectively, could carry up to eight and four weapons internally and two and eight weapons externally. Boeing’s F-15 fighter is another possible candidate host platform, says Pappafotis, with the type viewed as a potential trials aircraft if the proposed ACTD gains approval.
Lockheed Martin is also continuing to refine its concept for the 'extreme-range' JASSM (JASSM XR) that it envisages with a range of more than 1,000nm and optimised to defeat hardened and deeply buried targets via a boosted penetrator warhead.
Pappafotis said the company expects to conduct wind tunnel testing later this year of this variant, which only bomber aircraft will be able to carry due to its size and weight - up to three times as heavy as the baseline JASSM. B-2A and B-52H aircraft would be able to carry four XRs per rotary launcher, he noted.
The company hopes to receive air force sponsorship for JASSM XR in 2006. It is already under contract to build the JASSM ER, an extended-range variant that is the same size as the baseline missile, but has a range of around 500nm, more than twice the baseline system's.
Despite the Mini JASSM concept, Pappafotis said the company is still examining options for integrating the baseline JASSM externally on the F/A-22 and F-35. "We think there is value in pursuing both and we are continuing to do both," he said.
See 'Lockheed Martin eyes 'extreme-range' JASSM to engage difficult targets' (International Defence Review 1 June 2004)
TomS said:It might be too long for Mk 41 -- 6.3 meters without booster is already as long as Tomahawk with its booster (~6.28 meters). The booster adds a bit over 0.7 meters, which would make JASSM-XR "Naval" close to 7 meters total. That's longer than SM-6 (6.6 meters) or any other inventory weapon. It's slightly shorter than the Mk 41's max canister length (7.18 meters) but there may be issues with internal clearances there.
Once upon a time (about 2006, so just after the artciel above), they were talking about another notional missile called Cruise Missile XR that was basically a large JASSM derivative somehow distinct from JASSM-XR.
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/sure-strike-209026/
sferrin said:TomS said:It might be too long for Mk 41 -- 6.3 meters without booster is already as long as Tomahawk with its booster (~6.28 meters). The booster adds a bit over 0.7 meters, which would make JASSM-XR "Naval" close to 7 meters total. That's longer than SM-6 (6.6 meters) or any other inventory weapon. It's slightly shorter than the Mk 41's max canister length (7.18 meters) but there may be issues with internal clearances there.
Once upon a time (about 2006, so just after the artciel above), they were talking about another notional missile called Cruise Missile XR that was basically a large JASSM derivative somehow distinct from JASSM-XR.
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/sure-strike-209026/
If they stretched it that long that's AGM-86B length. And only a 1000 miles? I'd think they'd get much more range with that much of a stretch.
marauder2048 said:Could it just be the production cut-in of the new wing/chine + smaller warhead?
TomS said:marauder2048 said:Could it just be the production cut-in of the new wing/chine + smaller warhead?
They provided money for the new wing last year. It's possible this is a continuation, but you'd expect there to be some indication of that, wouldn't you?
A Lockheed Missiles and Fire Control spokesman said the new version is "part of a planned upgrade" of the JASSM "family of missiles"
which includes the baseline AGM-158A JASSM, the AGM-158B JASSM-ER, and the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile AGM-158C.
The Air Force could not immediately say if the most recent variant will carry the designation AGM-158D.
The upgrade includes a new missile control unit computer, "which will support the other planned capabilities," the spokesman said.
These include "new wing designs to increase standoff range through aerodynamic efficiency, and a new GPS unit to
further advance our level of protection." The Air Force will acknowledge only that the JASSM-ER has a range in excess of 500
nautical miles, so the XR's range will presumably be greater.
AGM-158B2 will be the next variant in the line of JASSM-ER missiles. The USAF is expected to begin procurement of the JASSM-ERB2 beginning in Lot 19.
The Lot 19 award also paves the way for a future production cut-in modification to facilitate low-rate initial production (LRIP) of 40 AGM-158B-2 ‘extreme-range’ variant JASSMs, previously referred to as JASSM-XR or AGM-158D.
Sounds more like a PGM, really short range program.What is the GPAW program? Is it related to the JASSM?