DoD Buzz: Last $5B Tac Missile Competition

Last $5B Tac Missile Competition
By Colin Clark Friday, August 6th, 2010 10:56 am
Posted in Air, Land

Put $5 billion on the table, factor in shrinking budgets, add the fact that you are competing for what is likely to be the last tactical missile competition for the next quarter of a century and you’ve got one hell of a fight for the Joint Air to Ground Missile (JAGM).

The weapon system that results will replace the Maverick on F/A-18 E/F, as well as the Hellfire and missiles on the Army’s AH-64D Apache attack helicopter, the Army’s Extended Range Multi-Purpose Sky Warrior unmanned aerial system, the Marine’s AH-1Z Super Cobra attack helicopter, and the Navy’s MH-60R Seahawk. On top of that, it may be used for the Joint Strike Fighter program. IOC is scheduled on the AH-64D, AH-1Z and F/A-18E/F for 2016. If all goes as currently planned, the program will produce 33,000 missiles over the next 20 years. For those who follow acquisition closely, this is the successor program to the deeply troubled Joint Common Missile.

On one side of the missile corral stands mighty Lockheed Martin. Facing the largest defense company in America is a team of Raytheon and Boeing. JAGM is a test for the companies, as well as the Pentagon, being the first of two programs set up by former head of acquisition John Young as a test of his prototyping approach: prove to the Pentagon that you can actually build what you say you can build by building a few successful models that can meet some test requirements.

The importance of a success for a significant joint program can’t be overstated. One after another of programs called joint have disappointed, failed or been cancelled. “Joint programs have not enjoyed a great deal of success in the past,” said Mike Riley, head of JAGM business development at Raytheon.

Raytheon paid for two missile test shots in April to see if they were on the right path. On 23 June, they fired the first test shot supervised and scored by the government at White Sands Missile Range. A second shot is coming Aug. 13.



unhappycamper comments: I can hardly wait to see how much the missile that replaces the $160,000 AGM-65 Maverick costs.