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Lockheed Martin is testing its air-launched, anti-ship cruise missile for the U.S. Navy’s future fleet of frigates and submarines, company officials told USNI News on Wednesday.

Originally developed by DARPA to quickly field a need U.S. Pacific Command for a modern air-launched weapon, the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) program has now been absorbed by the Navy and will be fielded by the Air Force Boeing B-1B Lancer bombers and the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in the next few years, Scott Callaway, LRASM Surface-Launch director, told USNI News on Wednesday during the Surface Navy Association 2017 symposium.

Now the company is positioning the weapon – based on the AGM-158 JASSM-ER air to surface missile – to be Lockheed’s submission for the Navy’s over-the-horizon missile for the emerging frigate design.

“While the Navy has been maturing that air-launched version and getting it ready for production, we’ve been investing in the surface-launched variant to mature that product,” Callaway said.

Following three launch tests from MK-41 Vertical Launch Systems last year, the company will move ahead with tests this year of a standalone launcher that will be the basis for the OTH missile for the frigate that will follow on the Littoral Combat Ship.

The OTH missile will be the first new surface launched anti-ship missile for the service in decades. It will be the follow-on to the RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile — which was introduced to the service in the 1970s. A Raytheon-Kongsberg team is set to pitch the Naval Strike Missile and Boeing is set to offer a modified Harpoon for the competition.

In addition to the OTH contest, Lockheed is also set to test a sub-launched variant of LRASM.

“We’ve developed a capsule that will fit into the Virginia payload tube,” Callaway said.
“We’ve done some early testing, some early feasibility studies and have determined there are no show stoppers to put LRASM into a sub.”

U.S. subs previously fielded a sub-launched version of the Harpoon – the UGM-84. However, the sub force has not fielded the Harpoon for several years.

Lockheed intends to test a proof of concept for its sub-launched LRASM sometime this year.

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Jura said:

now I read Lockheed Testing LRASM Launchers for Future Frigate, Submarines

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Jura said:

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The Trump transition team is considering a little-known candidate for Secretary of the Navy with a background in high finance in Asia, several sources have confirmed to USNI News.

Philip Bilden, who ran a private equity business in Hong Kong for more than a decade, emerged in recent weeks in the running for the position, sources in the Navy and Congress told USNI News in the last several weeks.

As of Friday, sources inside the Trump camp considered Bilden the front-runner for the position over former Virginia Congressman Randy Forbes, USNI News understands.

Originally from Newport, R.I., Bilden attended Georgetown on a ROTC scholarship, graduated in 1986 and then served four years as an Army intelligence officer.

After leaving the service, Bilden enrolled in Harvard Business School and following graduation in 1991 joined the HarbourVest private equity firm in Boston.

In 1996 he left Massachusetts for Hong Kong to found an Asian branch of the business that he ran until about three years ago when he moved back to the U.S. and settled back in Rhode Island.

Bilden has one son who graduated from the Naval Academy and another son who is currently a midshipman in Annapolis.

“He is a man of extraordinary expertise on maritime and nautical affairs. He is an expert on Asia and understands, in particular, China very deeply,” former NATO supreme commander retired Adm. James G. Stavridis told USNI News on Friday.
“He’s a highly distinguished businessman who understands efficiency… he has unimpeachable integrity and is one of the kindest smartest people I have ever met.”

Bilden follows in the mold of Trump’s Secretary of the Army pick, billionaire Vincent Viola a West Point grad that left the service after five years and then made a fortune in high finance.

While he has kept a low public profile, Bilden has deep connections within the military.

“He’s been very involved at the Naval Academy as a member of the board. He’s been a strong supporter of the U.S. Naval Institute,” Stavridis said.
“He is also on the board of the Naval War College.”

Bilden name has emerged as Forbes has gained steady bipartisan support since Trump’s election from his former colleagues in Congress – including Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), Rep Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and Rep Rob Wittman (R-Va.). Forbes – who served for years as the chair of the House Armed Services sea power subcommittee and on the congressional China caucus – is also a favorite choice of Vice President-elect Mike Pence for SECNAV, USNI News understands.

As to Bilden, Stavridis compared the businessman to Richard Danzig – a lawyer who served successfully as Secretary of the Navy in the Clinton administration.

“To stack [Bilden] against Randy Forbes — Ok he’s not the chairman of the sea power subcommittee, but I would say that he’s more in the model of distinguished, highly successful innovative business man with military service as an intelligence officer and very strong contacts though out the Navy today,” Stavridis said.
“He doesn’t have to come in and serve. He’s not a Washingtonian, not an insider and I would regard that as a plus serving in a Trump administration.”

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Jura said:

Nov 19, 2016

... now though
Trump Team Looking at Little-known Financier Philip Bilden for SECNAV Job
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Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Off-Board Electronic Warfare (AOEW) Active Mission Payload (AMP) AN/ALQ-248 system, a pod hosted on an MH-60R or MH-60S, will enhance the way the U.S. Navy detects and responds to anti-ship missile threats.

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Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] will build on its 45-year legacy of integrated

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system success under a newly awarded U.S. Navy development contract to provide

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with enhanced electronic warfare surveillance and countermeasure capabilities against anti-ship missile (ASM) threats.

Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Off-Board Electronic Warfare (AOEW) Active Mission Payload (AMP) AN/ALQ-248 system, is a self-contained EW pod hosted by an MH-60R or MH-60S, which provides the Navy advanced ASM detection and response capabilities.

The AOEW program builds on Lockheed Martin’s legacy of proven electronic warfare solutions. The AOEW AMP AN/ALQ-248 can work independently or with the ship’s onboard electronic surveillance sensor,

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, to detect an incoming missile and then evaluate where it is going. AOEW then uses radio frequency countermeasure techniques to deter the missile.

“Every day ships across the world are facing a variety of evolving threats,” said Joe Ottaviano, electronic warfare program director. “Our Advanced Off-Board Electronic Warfare AMP AN/ALQ-248 system will help create a coordinated attack against these threats, to keep our warfighters safe by controlling the electromagnetic spectrum and disrupting adversaries.”

Under this contract, if all options are exercised, Lockheed Martin will deliver up to 18 AOEW AMP AN/ALQ-248 pods to the U.S. Navy.

The AOEW program leverages expertise across Lockheed Martin. Manufacturing of the AOEW AN/ALQ-248 systems in Syracuse, N.Y., is slated to begin in early 2019 to meet the program’s 2021 initial operational capability goal. The Owego, N.Y., team will integrate the system onto the MH-60 helicopters, which are built by Sikorsky.

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