The U.S. Air Force, Navy and Raytheon successfully demonstrated a weapon data link (WDL) and a new air-to-ground message set that will enhance the capability and utility of Raytheon's Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW).

The demonstration was a key success in the Weapon Data Link Network (WDLN) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) managed by the Air Force's Air Armament Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The WDLN ACTD is an activity using weapons and government-provided command and control nodes designed to evaluate a standard weapons communications architecture and serve as risk reduction pathfinders for future weapon data link efforts.

Raytheon is under contract with the Naval Air Systems Command to provide JSOW to the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force. JSOW deliveries started in 1997.

"We successfully demonstrated the feasibility and functionality of the standard weapon data link network message set and the additional capability and situational awareness it offers our warfighters," said Ron Shields, JSOW director at Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, Ariz. "This step toward the realization of net enabled weapons is due to a lot of hard work and careful planning by all members of the JSOW team both on the contractor and government sides."

Incorporating a weapon data link in the JSOW provides the capability of in-flight communications of missile health and status; receiving in-flight target updates and target deconfliction messages; transmitting weapon position up to time of impact; and communicating through direct line-of-sight. Raytheon and the Navy are also developing a Block III variant, which will provide the warfighter with moving target capability by adding a weapons data link and other improvements.

"Successfully demonstrating communication between the JSOW and the tactical air control party will greatly increase our capability to engage moving land targets at range," said Cmdr. Drew Hartigan, the Navy's deputy JSOW program manager. "The JSOW WDLN ACTD demonstration and the anti-surface warfare demo planned in 2006 are key stepping stones for the Block III spiral, which represents a significant step forward for strike weapons."

Raytheon's Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW)