Lockheed Martin is at least nine months behind schedule on initial delivery of some 30 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range cruise missiles to the Air Force, reported Bloomberg. The missiles originally were slated for delivery on Aug. 31, but now are expected to be delivered by April 30 because of flaws in the missile’s motor, reported the news organization. Lockheed Martin has since changed the way it builds the missile to allay durability concerns, a company spokesman told Bloomberg. In the meantime, the 30 missiles remain in storage at Lockheed’s production facility in Troy, Ala., “awaiting verification of a fix to the bond, which the company called an ‘isolated anomaly’ from a subcontractor to Lockheed,” reported Bloomberg. Despite the delay, the Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin two Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile contracts totaling a combined $449 million on Jan. 9. The contracts for 340 JASSM and 100 extended-range variants “bring the total number of JASSM cruise missiles on contract to over 2,100,” said company missile program director Jason Denney at the time.
The Air Force is finished evaluating the proposed “interim” fix for the KC-46’s troubled remote vision system, and is moving toward finalizing the design of the “2.0” overhaul of the system. The Air Force is more focused on the 2.0 overhaul, and “we’ve completed nearly every aspect of the design”…