Sue Payton, the Air Force’s top acquisition official, says the Air Force may have a “new plan” that would save the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, according to Rebecca Christie of Dow Jones Newswires (article via CNNMoney.com). JASSM faces the chopping block after recent test failures. In fact, Payton told Pentagon reporters last month that problems with navigation system reliability were leading the service to seek other options. Payton told Christie that the Air Force is working with JASSM-maker Lockheed Martin to develop a “proactive, preventive plan where things aren’t going to break as much as they have.”
The Air Force is launching an effort to develop a new stand-off missile with a range of 1,000 nautical miles, or 1,150 miles, that would eventually be used for both air-to-air and air-to-surface missions.