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LM Must Fix JASSM This Month

Jun 7, 2007
Amy Butler/Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Lockheed Martin has until the end of June to negotiate a get-well plan with the U.S. Air Force for its $5.8 billion stealthy cruise missile program or face full termination.

The Pentagon is already exploring alternatives that include the U.S. Navy’s Tactical Tomahawk – arguably an expensive option – and the Standoff Land Attack Missile Expanded Response (SLAM-ER). Foreign options are not off the table, according to Diane Wright, the Pentagon acquisition office’s deputy director of air warfare. That could leave the door open to MBDA’s Storm Shadow cruise missile.

The Lockheed Martin Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) was the only one of five Pentagon programs that had recently breached cost by more than 25 percent not to be approved for continued work. Work will proceed on restructured versions of the C-130 Avionics Modernization Program, the Joint Primary Aircraft Trainer effort, the Marine Corps’ Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle and the Army’s Warfighter Information-Tactical program.

A stop-work order for JASSM has not been issued to the contractor, though in accordance with the Nunn-McCurdy law that governs programs with major overruns, the Air Force cannot obligate further funds until the Pentagon approves a program replan.

But that is by no means a certainty. Citing what she labels as philosophical problems with Lockheed Martin’s management of ongoing JASSM issues, Air Force acquisition executive Sue Payton says that “We are not proud – and neither is Lockheed Martin – of the status of this program. We can’t just fix one thing at a time.”

Payton added that Lockheed Martin has seemingly not taken a holistic view of JASSM’s problems.

Critics say the Pentagon rushed JASSM into production too early in 2004, and now 600 missiles are fielded. Wright says the missile is providing a 58 percent reliability rate – meaning at least two missiles would be required by planners should they be needed for targets before fixes can be implemented. Restrictions have not been placed on those missiles, though Payton says that is an option

JASSM began as an effort to field 2,400 low-cost stealthy cruise missiles with a 200 nautical-mile range. The Air Force, however, bears some of the responsibility for JASSM’s problems. The service added 2,500 extended range variants – increasing to 500 nautical miles the missile’s range. The total buy is expected to be 4,900 missiles.

Also added were a Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM), which protects the Global Positioning System (GPS) signal emitted to the weapons, made by Rockwell Collins.

Work on a maritime JASSM variant and a related datalink has been halted pending the outcome of this month’s program review.

Of primary concern to the Air Force is the missile’s low reliability. Payton says efforts to integrate SAASM onto the cruise missile may be at the root of a recurring “GPS dropout” problem that has resulted in multiple missiles missing their target in recent tests (DAILY, May 10).

SASSM, which is used to protect the GPS signal for weapons, is also on other Pentagon systems, including the Joint Standoff Weapon, Small-Diameter Bomb, Joint Direct Attack Munition and others. Payton says the Air Force’s Air Armament Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is exploring whether GPS dropout is occurring on other SASSM-equipped weapons.

But other technical problems have not been ruled out. During the April tests, one of the missiles did not achieve its goals due to a fuzing problem.

The Defense Acquisition Board will decide whether to restructure JASSM and move ahead or terminate the effort on June 27.