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Why does the U.S. Navy feel the need to remind us that they are "ready for trouble"? The Navy and Marines have been ready for trouble since 1776 but recently most of the trouble seems to come from the federal bureaucracy rather than the prates or the jihadists.
The USAF is better at bombing runs.
Ships are sitting ducks in the water.
Lockheed Martin Corp., the missile's manufacturer, recently launched the AGM-158C LRASM from a B-1B Lancer, at Point Mugu Sea Range, California, the company said. The aircrew "simultaneously launched two LRASMs against multiple maritime targets, meeting the primary test objectives, including target impact," Lockheed said in a release. Once launched from the aircraft, the missile -- based on the, Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range, or JASSM-ER -- will be able to autonomously sensor-locate and track targets while avoiding friendly forces.
Lockheed Martin successfully fired production-configuration Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles from a U.S. Air Force B-1B bomber.
The estimated $1.5 billion Navy program is also being tested on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. "This continued success with LRASM provides confidence in its upcoming early operational capability milestone, putting a proven, unmatched munition into the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force inventories," said David Helsel, LRASM program director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "The successful flight demonstrates LRASM's continued ability to strengthen sea control for our forces," he said in the release.
The precision-guided, anti-ship standoff missile was first tested on a B-1B in August. "The B-1 is the only Air Force platform scheduled to receive this, and we are the threshold platform for [it]," Maj. Jeremy Stover, B-1 program element monitor and instructor weapons systems officer, told Military.com in July. The weapon will enhance not just the B-1, but the U.S. military's targeting capabilities while protecting at-risk assets in a high-threat environment, Stover said. The B-1 may be capable of carrying more than 20 LRASMs at a time. The Air Force is scheduled to integrate LRASM onboard the B-1B in 2018 and the Navy on its F/A-18E/F in 2019, the release said.
B-1B's Long Range Anti-Ship Missile Strikes Multiple Targets in New Test
Let's see, the Iranian navy kidnapped a boatload of crying U.S. Sailors a couple of years ago and Hussein paid them off not with missiles but U.S. dollars and euros. A speedboat loaded with jihadists and explosives tore through the USS Cole and apparently we apologized for the inconvenience without firing a shot. A couple of bogies buzzed a couple of U.S. warships recently and we responded with angry diplomatic words. What kind of trouble are we ready for?
