Raytheon Company and the U.S. Navy conducted a successful first operational test of the company’s Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) C-1, according to a Raytheon news release. The JSOW C-1 was launched at approximately 29,000 feet from an F/A-18F Super Hornet, and flew a preplanned route before destroying its intended land target within a challenging testing scenario that included tactical countermeasures, according to the release.

The JSOW C-1 adds a two-way Link 16 data link to enable it to engage and destroy moving targets as well as stationary land targets.

The operational test was the first for C-1 version of the proven family of gliding, precision-guided weapons. The JSOW C version of the precision-guided munition added an imaging infrared (IIR) seeker to the existing GPS-inertial navigation system guided JSOW in order to add accuracy in its terminal phase for attacks against land targets. The JSOW C-1 adds a two-way Link 16 data link to enable it to engage and destroy moving targets as well as stationary land targets. All versions, with their pop-out wings, have a range exceeding 70 nautical miles or 100 kilometers. More than 400 JSOWs have been used in combat, according to Raytheon.

“This test demonstrated yet again JSOW’s ability to deliver decisive battlefield effects with precision stand-off capability against some of the most challenging land targets facing our warfighters,” said Celeste Mohr, JSOW program director for Raytheon Missile Systems. “Naval aviators also recently employed JSOW C in a tactically realistic, cave-defeat scenario that included heavy radio frequency countermeasures. The result was two direct hits.”

This initial operational test followed up seven equally successful employments against both stationary land targets and maritime moving targets during the developmental and integration test phases. The next phase of operational testing will be against both large and small moving targets on land and sea.