Lockheed Martin Launches Revolutionary Missile Designed for Naval Warfare
Lockheed Martin successfully conducted the first launch yesterday of the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) surface-launch model from a topside canister.
The flight assessment, held at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, showcased the missile’s aptitude for performing an angled launch from the innovatively crafted topside canister, simulating a ship-launched scenario. Throughout the evaluation, the LRASM, along with its Mk-114 booster and booster adapter, ejected flawlessly from the topside launcher, utilizing the identical launch control and sequencing software presently employed by the Mk-41 Vertical Launch System (VLS).
“This successful flight evaluation demonstrates Lockheed Martin’s readiness to meet the U.S. Navy’s requirements for effective, extended-range anti-surface warfare solutions as a component of the ‘Distributed Lethality’ strategy,” stated Scott Callaway, Subsonic Cruise Missile director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “This trial also validates the versatility and capability of LRASM, as it exhibited successful launch functionalities from both VLS and non-VLS surface platforms.”
Integrating LRASM onto surface vessels enhances distributed operations beyond enemy threat ranges. With the established VLS launch capability of LRASM, this topside canister featuring an angled launcher allows the LRASM surface-launch variant to be utilized across diverse platforms within the Navy’s surface fleet, presenting the potential for a formidable new anti-ship function under the U.S. Navy’s “Distributed Lethality” operational concept.
The LRASM surface-launch variant is manufactured on the same production line as JASSM, JASSM-ER, and LRASM air-launched munitions, ensuring equivalent long-range, precise capabilities while benefiting from production efficiencies.
LRASM is a precision-guided anti-ship missile that builds upon the successful JASSM-ER legacy, designed to meet the demands of U.S. Navy and Air Force personnel in highly contested environments. The air-launched variant offers an early operational capacity for the Navy’s offensive anti-surface warfare Increment I mandate, set to be integrated onto the U.S. Air Force’s B-1B in 2018 and on the U.S. Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in 2019.
