Lockheed, Northrop, L3Harris Technologies Compete to Create F-35 Air-to-Ground Weapon

The U.S. Air Force has issued three contracts worth $2 milllion each to Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and L3Harris Technologies for phase one of the Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW) program.

The Air Force signaled it was preparing to move forward with the SIAW in supporting documents for its proposed fiscal 2023 budget, which for the first time requested $78 million to start procuring 42 of the weapons.

The Air Force said this weapon would allow it to strike enemy targets that create an anti-access, area denial environment and can be rapidly moved. These potential targets include integrated air defense systems, ballistic missile launchers, land-attack and anti-ship cruise missile launchers, GPS jammers, and anti-satellite systems. The stand-in weapon would have a shorter range than standoff weapons, which are designed to be fired from a distance outside the range of enemy defenses, typically by an aircraft such as a B-52.

Northrop said it will use its experiences from designing and producing the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile-Extended Range, or AARGM-ER, for the U.S. Navy and integrating it on F-35s. Michael Stuart, Northrop’s director of business development has stated that the stand-in weapon would also be faster than other weapons the F-35 could carry, and will be using an open-system architecture concept that would allow it to “plug and play” different modular systems as per the requests of the U.S.A.F.

L3Harris said in a release Wednesday that its Agile Development Group will lead its SIAW efforts and will take advantage of the group’s digital engineering capabilities.

Lockheed said its Missiles and Fire Control division is using advanced digital engineering methods, pioneered by its Skunk Works unit, to design the SIAW.