JASSM back on track

The program to equip the RAAF’s F/A-18A/B Hornets with Lockheed Martin’s AGM-158 JASSM stand off missile is regaining momentum following a series of successful test flights of lot 7 production standard missiles in the US recently.

Selected to equip the Hornets under Project Air 5418 in 2006 ahead of Boeing’s SLAM-ER and the European Taurus KEPD 350, the JASSM has seen its share of problems in recent years following production glitches and GPS guidance unit failures resulting in several key test failures and cost spirals to the point of being placed under a Nunn-McCurdy breach and subsequent program review by the Pentagon in 2007.