Lockheed Martin defends missile against potential funding cuts

Lockheed Martin Wednesday strongly denied there were any failures in the joint air-to-surface standoff missile test program and warned of possible "catastrophic" consequences from cuts in funding for the program proposed by the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

Randall Bigum, Lockheed's vice president for strike weapons, told a news conference that JASSM-a jet-powered, winged aircraft weapon with a range of about 200 miles-was in low-rate production after "the most successful missile test program in Air Force history" and that he wanted to dispel "misconceptions" about the program that he said some individuals were spreading.

Bigum clearly was reacting to language in the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee's proposal to cut $46.5 million from the $102.5 million requested by the Bush administration to buy 250 JASSMs for the Air Force. The subcommittee's report cited "test failures" for its proposed cuts.

Bigum said the proposed cuts would force the Air Force to renegotiate its contract for JASSMs, which gives it "an incredibly capable missile for an incredibly good price." The existing long-term contract calls for 2,400 missiles over nine lots at an average unit cost of $400,000 in fiscal 1996 dollars.

Bigum told defense reporters that the sophisticated guided weapon would complete its developmental and operational flight testing this summer in half the anticipated time, while using half the number of missiles as compared to any previous missile tested. The five "issues" that emerged from the testing have been corrected, he said, and there have been no requests from the Air Force for modifications or changes in the missiles it is receiving.

Bigum noted that the Air Force asked Lockheed earlier this year to accelerate production in order to have enough JASSMs on hand to use if the war against Iraq had been prolonged and consumed the limited supply of air-launched cruise missiles. The JASSMs eventually were not used in the war.

Bigum said that Lockheed has contracts from the Air Force to develop an extended range version of JASSM and from the Navy to integrate the missile on its new model of the F/A-18 Super Hornet.