Article Posted on : - Feb 12, 2011

Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) system of Raytheon.

BANGALORE (BNS): Raytheon have completed a series of free-flight demonstrations of the Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) AGM-154-C from an F-16IN fighter aircraft, which is a part of the Indian Air Force's Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition.

JSOW is a family of low-cost, air-to-ground weapons that employs an integrated GPS- inertial navigation system and terminal infrared seeker that guide the weapon to the target.

The system has a maximum range of 130 kilometers (80.5 statute miles) from high altitude and can penetrate more than 1.5 meters (approximately 5 feet) of reinforced concrete.

"We conducted the demonstration to show that JSOW-C, which is currently integrated on various F-16 international aircraft, could be easily, affordably and rapidly integrated on the F-16IN," Phyllis McEnroe, Raytheon's JSOW programme director, said.

"JSOW is already integrated on the F/A-18 Super Hornet and has been employed from that platform numerous times, so this test proves that JSOW can now be employed from both US MMRCA offerings," he added.

The MMRCA programme is a competition to procure 126 new aircraft for Indian air warriors.