The US Navy completed developmental testing (DT) of the Raytheon Company joint standoff weapon (JSOW) C-1. The conclusion of DT brings US and allied warfighters one step closer to being able to engage moving ships as far as 60 nautical miles (70 statute miles) away with an air-launched weapon. Developmental testing finished when the JSOW C-1 struck a small, fastmoving ship target during the weapon’s second flight test.

“The JSOW C-1 is a network-enabled weapon which will be capable of receiving third party target updates inflight and strike a precise point on a moving ship using its autonomous terminal seeker,” said Cmdr Samuel Hanaki of the US Navy’s Precision Strike Weapons programme office. “In addition to marking the completion of DT, this test keeps the programme on track for reaching initial operational capability in 2013.”

JSOW is a family of low-cost, air-to-ground weapons that employs an integrated GPS-inertial navigation system and terminal imaging infrared seeker. JSOW C-1 adds moving maritime target capability and the two-way strike common weapon datalink to the combat-proven weapon.

JSOW C-1 is the world’s first networked weapon, and has a range of more than 100 kilometres (more than 60 nautical miles).