First B-1B live JASSM drop at China Lake Range. (Photo: Flickr)

15:44 GMT, September 22, 2008 ORLANDO, FL | A Lockheed Martin Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) successfully completed a Product Upgrade Verification (PUV) flight test on September 18 at White Sands Missile Range, NM.

The missile successfully navigated through a preplanned route and struck its intended target.

The PUV flight tests are designed to test new hardware. The primary test objective of this flight was to demonstrate Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver performance in a jamming environment.

“This flight test successfully demonstrated the continued missile reliability and performance of JASSM’s anti-jam GPS,” said Randy Bigum, vice president of Strike Weapons at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “JASSM’s ability to function in a jamming environment is one of its major benefits to our Warfighters.”

Earlier in the year, JASSM was successful in 14 of 16 flight tests conducted by the U.S. Air Force that verified the missile as a reliable weapon system.

JASSM is a critical weapon for the U.S. Air Force, with the seventh production lot under contract toward a total objective of 4,900 JASSM and JASSM-ER (Extended Range). The baseline JASSM is also produced for foreign military sale customers. JASSM is integrated on the B-1, B-2, B-52 and F-16 aircraft. Future platforms include the F-15E, F/A-18 and F-35.

The missile is produced at Lockheed Martin’s award-winning manufacturing facility in Troy, AL. Lockheed Martin has assembled approximately 800 JASSM missiles in Troy since late 1999 for testing and operational use.

A 2,000-pound class weapon with a penetrator/blast fragmentation warhead, JASSM cruises autonomously in adverse weather, day or night, using a state-of-the-art infrared seeker in addition to the anti-jam GPS to find a specific aimpoint on the target. Its stealthy airframe makes it extremely difficult to defeat.