Pentagon green-lights Lockheed Martin missile program

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Source: AP

NEW YORK (Associated Press) - The Pentagon has given Lockheed Martin Corp. the green light to move ahead with mass production of a long-range, air-to-ground cruise missile that will be installed aboard a range of Air Force strike fighters and bombers.

The Defense Department certification of the Joint Air-To-Surface Standoff Missile program was necessary for the program to proceed after cost overruns triggered a Congressional notification and restructuring. The program has also been plagued by technical problems with the missile's anti-jamming software.

The certification by John Young, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, clears the way for the Pentagon to spend at least $4 billion more to purchase 4,000 additional standard and extended-range missiles over the next decade, said Jim McAleese, a defense industry consultant in Virginia. The Pentagon has already ordered 942 of the missiles at a cost of $590 million, McAleese said.

The President's fiscal year 2009 budget request includes $253.3 million for the Joint Air-To-Surface Standoff Missile prgram, including funding to purchase 260 missiles.



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