LEXINGTON, Mass.-- The Raytheon-built AGM-154A Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) was used in combat for the first time January 24, the company said today. A U.S. Navy F/A-18 on routine "no-fly'' zone patrol over the skies of Iraq launched the JSOW at an Iraqi air defense site, effectively taking it out of operation. No other operational details were disclosed. "Reports from the fleet indicate JSOW performed flawlessly,'' said C. Dale Reis, a Raytheon senior vice president and general manager of the Raytheon Systems Company's Defense Systems Segment, Tucson, Ariz. JSOW is an unpowered glide weapon designed to provide tactical strike aircraft and bombers with the ability to attack hostile targets from safe standoff distances, which provides for much improved aircraft survivability. JSOW is a joint U.S. Navy and Air Force program with the Navy acting as the lead service. The program has grown to become a family of weapons designed to be effective against a wide variety of targets. JSOW is capable of being launched by essentially every strike aircraft and bomber in the Navy and Air Force inventory. In addition to this flexibility, JSOW will provide the Navy and Air Force optimum logistical costs through a 20-year warranty and simplified training. Raytheon Company recently received a 134 million contract from the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., for full rate production of the AGM-154A and low rate initial production (LRIP) for the AGM-154B. In addition to this production order, the contract includes provisions for more than 600 million of follow-on production options over the next three years. Raytheon has completed delivery of the first LRIP lot of the AGM-154A variant with the Combined Effects Bomblet submunitions designed for large area targets. Deliveries of the second LRIP lot of the AGM-154A variant began ahead of schedule in December 1998 and will continue through 1999. Full rate production deliveries will begin in March 2000. The Navy and Air Force plan to procure approximately 11,800 of the AGM-154A during low- and full-rate production. The LRIP contract for the AGM-154B, with the Sensor Fused Weapon submunition for armored targets, will deliver 24 weapons beginning in December 1999. The Navy and Air Force plan to procure more than 4,000 of the AGM-154B variant. A third variant of JSOW, the AGM-154C, will provide the Navy with the ability to strike high value targets with a 500-pound blast fragmentation warhead. This program has recently been restructured to integrate an autonomous imaging infrared terminal sensor for precision strike.
