LOCKHEED MARTIN ILLUSTRATION
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is developing two concepts for a new Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile
(LRASM). LRASM-A, based on the Air Force’s AGM-158
Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, is a stealthy cruise missile. LRASM-B, shown here, is a supersonic ramjet design
that will be fired from the MK 41 Vertical Launch System.
LRASM-B is a markedly different design: a high-altitude supersonic cruise missile with a ramjet engine,
a multimode seeker and a 500-pound blast fragmentation warhead. LRASM-B is based on an Air Force ramjet missile program, the Advanced Strategic Air-Launched Missile, which was canceled for budget reasons in 1980 after seven successful test flights.
LRASM-B “favors speed over stealthy penetration,”
McHenry said. “[It] is built on a heritage of flight test-
ed ramjet engines that have been adapted to optimize
its capabilities for the LRASM mission.”
“LRASM-B features a chin [air] inlet,” said Glenn
Kuller, director of advanced program for Lockheed
Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “The beauty of that
design [is that it] lets us get nice clean air into the ram-
jet, yet still have an unobstructed view with a robust
sensor package.”
In January, Phase 2 began when DARPA awarded the
Strike Weapons unit a $65.27 million contract for two
air-launched demonstrations of LRASM-A deployment
on Navy and Air Force tactical aircraft. The Tactical
Missiles unit was awarded $164.89 million for four
demonstrations of LRASM-B from the MK 41 Vertical
Launch System, the standard launcher installed on
Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class
destroyers. Of note, both missiles are designed to be
launched from ships and aircraft.
A multimode seeker common to both missiles is
being developed and integrated by BAE Systems
Information and Electronic Systems in Nashua, N.H.,
under a $34.07 million DARPA Phase 2 contract.
Kuller was not at liberty to discuss the seeker’s details.
“BAE [also] is building the composite MK 29 [verti-cal launch] container,” Kuller said. “It will be a first-time event when a LRASM-B gets fired with a MK 71
booster coming out of a MK 29 can.
“In order to keep both programs moving, the Navy
elected to defer ship integration. We had to make several changes to LRASM-A so that it would fit inside a
can [vertical-launch canister],” he said.
“The completed designs and testing data will under-
go a second comprehensive independent government
assessment as part of the critical design reviews, sched-
uled for the summer of 2012,” McHenry said. “If the
designs are assessed to be ready to continue to flight
testing, the program will complete system fabrication
and prototype integration. The flight test program is
expected to be completed by the summer of 2013.”
LRASM, or something similar, may end up on sub-
marines as well. The Navy’s director of submarine war-
fare, Rear Adm. Barry L. Bruner, was briefed on LRASM
and other missiles in October. He told an audience
Oct. 19 at the Naval Submarine League’s annual sym-
posium in McLean, Va., that “the right answer will be
dependent on many things. If we can leverage with
[the directors of surface and air warfare] and save
money, the perfect missile that meets all of those three
warfighting requirements is where we’d want to go.”
Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson Ariz., has ap-
proached the Navy with a proposal to convert its
Tomahawk land-attack missile to an anti-ship missile,
said Harry Schulte, Raytheon’s vice president for air
warfare systems.
Schulte said Raytheon was in discussions with the
Navy about a concept called Tomahawk Block IV Plus
to provide a near-term, long-range anti-ship capability
by adding an improved data link, a multimode seeker
and an anti-radiation homing device to the Block IV.
“When it got close enough, an anti-radiation hom-
ing device could pick out the signals from the ship and
make sure we had the right ship,” Schulte said. “When
it got close enough, the seeker would find it, target it,
classify it and then hit it.”
Schulte said the Block IV Plus is a low-risk, low-cost
concept that could be fielded in about three years
because the Tomahawk already is integrated in the fleet
and has room for additional systems that would not
detract from its land-attack capabilities, thus giving the
user the flexibility of using the same weapon for either
type of target.
“The original LRASM solicitation considered a range
of proposals that spanned technological risk and performance potential,” McHenry said. “The inherent missile attributes and ability to integrate new development
systems necessary to satisfy LRASM requirements were
not found in any legacy weapon system.” ;
