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Fleet Sharpens Skills with SLAM-ER

NAVAIR News Release

Press Release Number: EPEOW200305211

Release Date: 5/21/2003

The U.S. Navy's Standoff Land Attack Missile - Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) program conducted several firsts this month with a Carrier Air Wing One fleet training missile firing held at the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) Pacific sea test range off the coast of southern California.

Unique to this mission, the launch aircraft received targeting information once airborne, not pre-planned prior to the flight, as is usually the case. The target location and imagery information were sent to the cockpit via the Tactical Dissemination Module (TDM) from personnel in the NAVAIR test range control room while the aircraft were enroute to the target area. This was the only targeting information used by the aircrew, and the first SLAM-ER firing to utilize airborne retargeting to strike an unbriefed target.

The launch aircraft, an F-18C from VFA-82, took off from Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada, and was joined by the chase aircraft, an F-18F piloted by NAVAIR Weapons Division aircrew. After transiting 400 nautical miles to the launch point, the pilot released the missile from an altitude of over 30,000 ft. and a range of over 50 nautical miles in the Target of Opportunity mode of operation. The two aircraft then continued to chase the missile until its direct hit on the target in the NAVAIR test range.

Also participating in this event and taking off from NAS Fallon was another aircraft from Carrier Air Wing One, an S-3B from VS-32. After the SLAM-ER was launched, the S-3 crew controlled the missile via the AWW-13 data link pod to the intended aimpoint using the Stop Motion Aimpoint Update (SMAU) feature of the weapon. SMAU allows the pilot to momentarily "freeze" the missile target video image on his display screen and then operate an aimpoint cursor on a steady display to select the target impact point. This significantly improves the pilot's ability to select and update target aimpoints up to the final 0.5 nautical mile of the missile's flight, and hit the critical node of the target. This was the first such controlling role for a fleet S-3 squadron.

The SLAM-ER program is managed by the Program Executive Office, Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation (PEO(W)) co-located at the NAVAIR complex in Patuxent River, Maryland. The missile is manufactured by the Boeing Company located in St. Louis, Missouri.

NAVAIR provides advanced warfare technology through the efforts of a seamless, integrated, worldwide network of aviation technology experts. From professional training to carrier launch and recovery; from sensor data to precision targeting and real-time communications; from aircraft and weapons development to successful deployment and sustainment; NAVAIR provides dominant combat effects and matchless capabilities to the American warfighter.