The US Air Force is in search of a brand new air-launched weapon from stand-off ranges.
The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center has requested distributors to reply to its request for info for the Stand-off Attack Weapon (SoAW) for a scheduled dialogue on September 27 at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.
Assuming this system is permitted, the service desires to start fielding the weapon by 2030-33. Prototyping and demonstration are anticipated to begin by 2025.
Standoff Munitions
The air drive already fields two stand-off weapons: the Lockheed Martin Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and its variant Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM).
The newest variant of the JASSM, the AGM-158D, is scheduled to be operational by 2024. It has a variety of as much as 1,000 nautical miles (1,852 kilometers/1,151 miles) — twice that of its predecessor, the AGM-158B. It comes on the steep value of $1.5 million per unit.
The LRASM can strike targets from as much as 300 nautical miles (560 kilometers/350 miles) and comes at a good steeper $3 million.
Cost-Effective Weapon Required
Citing numerous research, Air Force Magazine wrote that the prohibitive prices of the 2 stand-off munitions would maybe render them “unaffordable and unsustainable” in a Pacific marketing campaign with hundreds of targets.
The outlet added that the service has pursued a two-decade-old technique of utilizing a “mixture of single-use standoff weapons and inexpensive, stand-in weapons delivered by survivable/stealthy aircraft that can re-attack many times.” The newest solicitation is maybe for the latter class.
The SoAW solicitation comes greater than two months after the service awarded preliminary weapon system integration contracts for the Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW) to 3 firms.
The SiAW is meant to penetrate anti-access/space denial environments and is predicated on Lockheed Martin’s AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile – Extended Range, nonetheless within the growth part, which has a variety of 300 kilometers (186 miles).
Fellow with the Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, Mark Gunzinger, informed the outlet that the SoAW “could be a mid-range weapon in the SiAW class.”
“The need for these mid-range weapons that are survivable and can be carried in greater numbers internally by stealthy aircraft was one insight developed during the Air Force’s ‘operational imperative’ work.”
