A string of recent test failures with the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile has caused Air Force officials some heartburn. Speaking at a Capitol Hill seminar Thursday, USAF acquisition leader, Sue Payton, said that the service would be analyzing test data over the next 30 days, hoping to find a solution to problems that they do not believe are design related. However, she could not rule out program termination as an option despite JASSM being “a huge need of the warfighter.”
Facing competition from fast-growing startups, Lockheed Martin is speeding up production of an “affordable, scalable” hypersonic glide body, dubbed the Next Generation Glide Body, the firm said in a June 24 release.