The U.S. Air Drive is awarding about $45 million to Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and L3Harris Applied sciences for the following step within the service’s Stand-in Assault Weapon (SiAW) program. Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman every obtained $15 million firm-fixed-price, analysis and growth contracts for Stand-in Assault Weapon Section 1.2. This contract gives for all actions related to the assertion of targets in addition to the contractor’s proposal for Section 1.2. Work will likely be carried out in Orlando, Florida, and is predicted to be full by Feb. 25, 2023. U.S. Air Drive Life Cycle Administration Middle, Eglin Air Drive Base, Florida, is the contracting exercise. Whereas L3Harris Mustang Expertise Group LP, Plano, Texas, has been awarded a $14,579,829 firm-fixed-price contract for Stand-in Assault Weapon Section 1.2.

The SiAW is, broadly, a successor to Northrop Grumman’s Superior Anti-Radiation Guided Missile-Prolonged Vary (AARGM-ER), itself a successor to the AARGM and the Excessive-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) in service because the Eighties. The goal set additionally consists of ballistic missile launchers, cruise missile launchers, GPS jamming platforms, and anti-satellite techniques along with risk air protection radars and monitoring techniques. Whereas the HARM was for suppressing enemy air protection radars, the SiAW has a broader goal set aimed toward different parts of an enemy’s built-in air protection system. The SiAW was initially deliberate as a follow-on to the AARGM-ER, however the Air Drive opened this system to competitors a yr in the past. The U.S. Air Drive requested almost $78 million in procurement for 42 SiAWs in fiscal 2023. Every SiAW, which the Lockheed Martin F-35A is to hold, would value greater than $1.5 million

Commercial

SiAW is to function in anti-access/space denial environments to strike cell targets, together with enemy missile launchers, GPS jammers, anti-satellite techniques, and built-in air protection techniques. SiAW will enable F-35 pilots to have interaction targets on the bottom resembling air protection system with a fast-moving missile earlier than the goal can get a missile off or relocate elsewhere. In its cross-hairs will likely be ballistic missile launchers, air protection techniques such because the Russian S-400 or Chinese language HQ-9. The small kind issue of the SiAW mixed with a velocity of round Mach 4 will allow it get previous enemy radars. Loaded into the interior weapons bay of the stealthy F-35, it may be launched after penetrating the enemy’s air protection zone. The Air Drive requested almost $78 million in procurement for 42 SiAWs in fiscal 2023. Every SiAW, which the Lockheed Martin F-35A is to hold, would value greater than $1.5 million.