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Lockheed Martin's Extended Range JASSM Cruise Missile Successfully Completes First Development Flight Test

ORLANDO, FL, May 22nd, 2006 -- Lockheed Martin’s [NYSE: LMT] extended-range JASSM™ system has successfully performed its first development flight test at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico recently. The JASSM air-to-surface standoff missile system is the world’s first stealthy conventional cruise missile.

Launched from a U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer flying at Mach 0.80 and 20,000 feet above the desert, the extended range JASSM (JASSM-ER) inert cruise missile successfully separated from the B-1B, deployed its wings and tail, and started its engine. After weapon release, the missile climbed to the designated cruise altitude, navigated via predetermined waypoints and descended to a selected altitude above ground level for target ingress. The missile performed a terminal maneuver that enabled the missile to demonstrate the desired impact angle and accuracy.

“This test is an outstanding milestone for the JASSM-ER development and test team,” said U.S. Air Force Lt Col Stephen Davis, 677th Armament System Squadron Commander at Eglin Air Force Base, FL. “This missile provides JASSM’s proven lethality and accuracy with extended range to give the B-1B warfighter an outstanding operational capability for first-day strike of heavily defended targets.”

Currently JASSM-ER is in Phase II development, which includes design and verification testing and culminates with flight testing. This flight test is the first all-up-round flight test to verify modifications specific to the extended range missile configuration. This flight will be followed by a series of integrated Air Force and Lockheed Martin development and evaluation test flights to prove out the JASSM-ER missile configuration on the B-1B aircraft platform. Each flight will be an end-to-end test, with successive tests providing an increasing evaluation of the total JASSM-ER system.

“Key to the extended-range version of this missile is its leverage of JASSM’s proven success, its incorporation of JASSM’s aggressive reliability growth and quality program, and its focus on affordability with the introduction of a low-risk and proven Williams International engine,” said Mike Inderhees, JASSM program director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “JASSM-ER will have a range greater than 500 nautical miles. This development provided the Air Force and the warfighter with a JASSM-ER upgrade at the lowest risk and cost.”

A 2,000-pound class weapon with a dual-mode penetrator and blast fragmentation warhead, JASSM-ER cruises autonomously in adverse weather, day or night, using a state-of-the-art infrared seeker in addition to the enhanced digital anti-jam Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver to find a specific aimpoint on the target. Its stealthy airframe makes it extremely difficult for air defense systems to engage.

Jennifer Allen, (407) 356-5351
e-mail jennifer.l.allen@lmco.com