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Joint Common Missile Program Fired - But Not Forgotten

16-Apr-2008 13:46 EDT

Related Stories: Americas - USA, Helicopters & Rotary, Lobbying, Lockheed Martin, New Systems Tech, R&D - Contracted

JCM Joint Common Missile
JCM

The Joint Common Missile (JCM) was seen as the next-generation, multi-purpose, air-to-ground precision missile that will replace AGM-114 Hellfire family, AGM-65 Maverick family, and airborne *GM-71 TOW missiles with a single weapon usable by the airplanes, helicopters and UAVs of the U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps. It was also being considered for use on some ground vehicles.

In May 2004, Lockheed Martin was picked over Raytheon and a Boeing-Northrop Grumman team to conduct JCM’s 4-year system development and demonstration (SDD) phase, which was to be worth as much as $1.6 billion. The long-term U.S. production estimate of 54,000 missiles would have brought the program to $5 billion, and the United Kingdom had expressed interest in the new weapon and participated in the development process. Tests were underway, and going well.

Then a 2005 program cancellation derailed the effort, but JCM has risen from the procurement grave…

The JCM Program

ORD_AGM-65_Maverick_F-16B_Firing.jpg
F-16 fires Maverick

The JCM’s body and tri-mode sensors built on the existing body designs and sensors from Lockheed Martin’s Hellfire missile family’s semi-active laser and millimeter wave Longbow missiles, and the sensors used by the Lockheed/Raytheon Javelin imaging infrared missile. Improvements beyond the tri-mode features include extended range, “safing” that would allow carrier landings with live JCS ordnance instead of forcing planes to jettison their loads, and greater “fire and forget” capability. Pentagon planners also envisioned that JCM standardization would keep maintenance and supply costs lower.

The program had made heavy use of modeling & simulation in its early phases, and was the first missile program ever to reach a Milestone B decision without conducting a live test. Subsequent live tests, including live fire tests against simulated urban targets, were also successful.

The missile reported less success on the budget front, however. In 2005, the Pentagon cut the Joint Common Missile (JCM) program in order to fund operations in Iraq. Canceling the Army-led JCM was estimated to save about $2.4 billion over the next 6 years ($928 million Army, $1.5 billion Navy). This triggered a counter-campaign by Congressional representatives, and created a controversy over the future of the program that never really went away.

The UK ended up developing its own system. In November 1996, the UK gave MBDA the Brimstone contract, in order to create a fire-and-forget anti-armor missile that could be fired by fast jets as well as helicopters. Brimstone uses inertial guidance plus millimeter-wave radar, and has a terrain following mode as well. In October 2003, a successful series of test firings were carried out, and the missile entered service with the RAF in March 2005. Experiments are underway with ground vehicle launchers as well, and the 50 kg/ 110 pound Brimstone is likely to remain Britain’s JCM option into the future.

The need for a capability similar to the JCM remained clear even to the Pentagon, and so the U.S. Department of Defense’s Program Budget Decision (PBD) No. 753 directed the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to commission a study for a very similar weapon system in time for the 2008 budget review. Meanwhile, the Alabama Congressional delegation and other members of Congress have been lobbying to keep the missile program going. All of that work eventually ended up as a renewed competition under a new name: Joint Air-to-Ground Missile.

Updates

Brimstone from GR1
Brimstone from Tornado
(click to view full)

April 14/08: Raytheon Company and Boeing announce a teaming agreement to pursue the U.S. Army-U.S. Navy Joint Air to Ground Missile program, which has an intended in-service date of 2016. Raytheon will be the prime contractor within the team.

The move is significant in that Boeing will not be teamed up with Northrop Grumman this time around. Raytheon makes existing TOW and Maverick missiles, and the team-up with Boeing creates commonality on a different level: integration with the manufacturer of many USAF and Navy aircraft, an area that Lockheed Martin covers on its own. Boeing is also part of the MBDA-led team that developed the Brimstone missile, Britain’s answer to the JCM program. Raytheon release.

Sept 26/07: Jane’s Missiles & Rockets reports that

“A new Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) programme is expected to become the successor of the Lockheed Martin AGM-169 Joint Common Missile (JCM) programme. As with the JCM, the JAGM is to be a multiservice weapon able to replace all versions of the Lockheed Martin Hellfire, Raytheon Maverick and Raytheon TOW missiles that currently equip fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles in US service…”

Jan 26/07: Inside Defense, Pentagon OKs Funding For Hellfire Replacement Effort:

“The Pentagon comptroller has directed the Army and Navy to pony up $68.5 million to fund missile research and development in an account that could be used to revive the Joint Common Missile—or something like it—more than two years after the Office of the Secretary of Defense moved to terminate the program….”

Dec 30/05: Inside Defense reports that when US House and Senate conferees reconciled the details of the FY 2006 defense appropriations bill, they restored $30 million to the Army-led JCM program to continue the missile’s development ($26 million in research, development, test and evaluation funding from the Army, and $4 million from the Navy). They’ve also required a report by January 30, 2006 explaining how the Pentagon plans to fill the future gaps created by the missile’s demise, and a cost analysis of continuation vs. termination and buying existing missiles. Depending on what that study says, the JCM program could rise again.

Additional Readings & Sources:

“Here’s a fantasy. Imagine three military services agreed on the need for a versatile air-to-ground missile that could precisely destroy a wide range of elusive targets—everything from camouflaged armored vehicles to terrorist speedboats. Imagine they found a low-cost design that could do those things day or night, good weather or bad, even when enemies were trying to jam the missile. Imagine the services selected a company that developed the missile on time and on cost, meeting all of its performance objectives. And imagine the missile was fielded expeditiously, replacing four cold-war missiles with an easy-to-maintain round that saved military lives while minimizing unintended damage.

You’d have to be pretty naive to believe the Pentagon’s dysfunctional acquisition system could deliver all that, wouldn’t you? That’s right, you would—because the military actually has a program matching that description, and senior officials have been trying to kill it for two years. Why? Well, nobody really knows why….”