ORLANDO, Fla., 7 July 2009. Lockheed Martin won a $23 million contract for the production of 12 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range (JASSM-ER) test missiles to be used in flight tests. Six of the missiles will be used to complete the test flight program, with the remaining six to be used in operational tests.

All of the missiles will be tactically configured with an added test instrumentation kit. The missiles are assembled in Lockheed Martin's missile assembly facility in Pike County, Ala.

"These tests will demonstrate the maturity of the JASSM-ER design, and support the Milestone C decision to proceed with low-rate initial production of the missile," says Alan Jackson, director of the JASSM and JASSM-ER programs at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.

The flight tests will be launched from a B-1B aircraft and engage tactical targets.

A 2,000-pound class weapon with a dual-mode penetrator and blast fragmentation warhead, JASSM 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 difficult for air defense systems to engage, reveals a representative. The JASSM-ER missile design will be compatible with the threshold B-1B platform, as well as the B-2, B-52, and F-16 aircraft that employ JASSM.