XBradTC

NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md.—The Navy began initial integration testing of its Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) onto the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Aug. 12 at Patuxent River’s Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23 facility.

The program’s flight test team conducted missile load and fit checks using a mass simulator vehicle, designed to emulate LRASM, in preparation for the first phase of airworthiness testing with the F/A-18 E/F scheduled to begin later this month.

via Navy begins LRASM, F/A-18 integration testing | NAVAIR – U.S. Navy Naval Air Systems Command – Navy and Marine Corps Aviation Research, Development, Acquisition, Test and Evaluation.

The LRASM is based on the existing JASSM-ER, with a different seeker head and warhead, so it should be a fairly low risk program. Of course, there’s always something (JASSM-ER had surprisingly difficult development, even though it was based on an existing system).

Importantly, it’s nice to see the Navy finally getting serious about Anti-Surface Warfare again. It has been too reliant on the aging AGM-84 Harpoon for too long.