AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon C-1 (JSOW) – The newest in a family of multiple weapon variants, the JSOW C-1 is the Navy’s first air-to-ground network-enabled weapon capable of attacking stationary land and moving maritime targets. Its components include GPS/INS guidance, a terminal infrared seeker and a Link 16 weapon data link. Fielded in 2016 for the F/A-18E/F and F-35B/C, it provides a stand-off range capability of 70 nautical miles for its broach multi-stage warhead.
An F-35C Lightning II test aircraft piloted by Cmdr. Theodore Dyckman conducts the first separation of an AGM-154 Joint Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW) from an F-35. U.S. Navy photo by Dane Wiedmann
Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) – Scheduled for EOC in 2018 on the U.S. Air Force B-1 Lancer and 2019 on the U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, LRASM is a near-term solution for the offensive anti-surface warfare air-launch capability gap, providing flexible, long-range, advanced, anti-surface capability against high-threat maritime targets. It reduces dependency on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms, network links, and GPS navigation in EW environments, using semi-autonomous guidance algorithms for less-precise target cueing data to pinpoint specific targets in a contested domain.
GBU-53/B Small Diameter Bomb Increment II (SDB II) – Planned for integration aboard the F-15E, F-35B/C and F/A-18E/F, the SDB II is an air-launched, precision-strike standoff weapon with capability against moving and fixed targets in adverse weather conditions. Using a GPS/INS initial guidance system, it can receive updated target coordinates mid-flight via two-way datalink (Link-16 or UHF), giving airborne or ground controllers the ability to send in-flight target updates and or abort a mission post-release. With a 40-mile-plus stand-off strike range, the weapon operates in three attack modes: Normal to engage moving targets through weather; laser illuminated for terminal guidance; and coordinate for fixed or stationary targets at a given set of coordinates.
Although one of the oldest weapons in the U.S. Navy inventory, with the Block II TLAM-A having achieved IOC in 1984, the Tomahawk remains the Navy’s premier precision strike standoff weapon against long-range, medium-range, and tactical targets.
Harpoon Block II+ (A/U/RGM-84) – When fielded to the fleet in the fourth quarter of FY 2017, Harpoon Block II+ will join JSOW C-1 as the Navy’s only two air-to-ground network-enabled weapons. Providing a rapid-capability enhancement that includes a new GPS guidance kit, reliability and survivability of the weapon, a new datalink interface enabling in-flight updates, improved target selectivity, an abort option, and enhanced resistance to electronic countermeasures, Block II+ is the latest version of the all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile system first introduced in 1977. With sea-skimming cruise monitored by radar altimeter/active radar terminal homing, it has an over-the-horizon range of more than 67 nautical miles.
Joint Mission Planning System (JMPS) – Designated as the mission planning system for naval aviation in 2006, JMPS provides the information, automated tools, and decision aids needed to plan aircraft, weapon, and sensor missions rapidly and accurately, loading mission data into aircraft, weapons and avionics systems. Future JMPS platforms include the CH-53K King Stallion, MQ-4C Triton, and P-8A Poseidon.
Digital Precision Strike Suite (DPSS) – A collection of technologies to increase the success of smart weapons first-pass attacks, one of the programs to come out of this development is the Precision Strike Suite for Special Operations Forces (PSS-SOF). A self-contained laptop system correlates real-time target images with existing geographical database imagery and assigns a latitude, longitude, and elevation to any part of the target, with targeting data then transmitted to the aircraft and weapon in less than a minute by one operator. DPSS is used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) integrated on an F/A-18E/F Super Hornet at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. The program’s flight test team is conducting initial testing to ensure proper loading, unloading, and handling of the LRASM on the F/A-18 E/F. U.S. Navy photo
AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) – A follow-on to the AIM-7 Sparrow missiles, AMRAAM is a faster, smaller, lighter all-weather, day/night missile with improved low-altitude target capabilities. With first Navy IOC in 1993, an F-35 version will join existing F/A-18, EA-18G and AV-8B naval fighters on operational status. Three dozen other nations have procured AMRAAM, enhancing U.S./allied/coalition interoperability, commonality, and sustained overall logistic support.