Article Posted on : - May 31, 2016

LRASM is a long range, precision-guided anti-ship missile and is designed to meet the needs of US Navy and Air Force warfighters. Photo: Lockheed Martin.

ORLANDO, FLORIDA (BNS): Lockheed Martin has received a USD 321.8 million sole-source contract from the US Navy for the continuation of the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) integration and test phase.

The integration and test contract funds continuation of LRASM flight testing and integration onto the US Air Force B-1B and the US Navy F/A-18E/F aircraft. LRASM early operational capability for the US Air Force and Navy is expected in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

"The LRASM team has successfully met all requirements on an accelerated acquisition timeline in an effort to give our warfighters a much-needed robust, anti-ship capability," Mike Fleming, LRASM programme director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, was quoted as saying in the company news release.

LRASM is a precision-guided anti-ship standoff missile leveraging Lockheed Martin's successful Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile Extended Range heritage, and is designed to meet the needs of US Navy and Air Force warfighters in an advanced anti-access/area-denial threat environment.