Texas Instruments Defense Systems & Electronics (T.I.D.S &E) began Engineering ,Manufacturing andDevelopment (EM&D) of JSOW in 1992. In December 1995, the Navy and Texas Instruments completed Development Test IIB (DT-IIB) at the Naval Air Weapon Center, (NAWC) China Lake and Point Mugu, California, with 10 for 11 successful flights of the AGM-154A BLU-97 dispenser variant.
On January 6, 1997, it was announced that Texas Instruments Defense Systems & Electronics (T.I.D.S &E) was being purchased by Raytheon Company, Lexington, Massachusetts. The U.S. Navy began Operational Evaluation (OPEVAL) testing in February 1997, after successful development testing and initial operational testing programs. The test program resulted in a 42 for 44 success rate or greater than 96% successful JSOW launches. The Air Force began Development Test & Evaluation (DT&E) flight testing of JSOW on the F-16 at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, in March 1996. Air Force testing of the baseline JSOW was hindered by less than desired progress in the area of F-16/JSOW integration.
The AGM-154A (Baseline variant) system entered Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) on schedule. The $65.9 million LRIP contract was awarded by the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), in Arlington, Virginia, for 111 JSOW AGM-154A/baseline systems. LRIP for the other two variants are scheduled for FY99 and FY00, respectively. On 29 December 1998 Raytheon Systems was awarded a $133,881,355 firm-fixed-price contract to give funding for the Full Rate Production Lot 1 of JSOW AGM-154A and the Low Rate Initial Production Lot I of the JSOW AGM-154B (AGM-154A: Navy - 328 and Air Force - 75) (AGM-154B: Navy - 3 and Air Force - 21). Work is expected to be completed by March 2001.
JSOW test articles were deployed in 1997 aboard the USS Nimitz and are currently deployed on the USS Eisenhower. JSOW's initial introduction to the prepared commands was on the Navy/Marine Corps F/A-18 in mid-1998. As of late 1997 a number of remaining JSOW test assets were on an interim deployment for further operational evaluation. USS Carl Vinson 's air wing first employed the JSOW during combat over southern Iraq on January 25, 1999.
On December 29, 1999 Raytheon Systems Company, Tucson, AZ, was awarded a $109,573,867 modification to previously award contract N00019-99-C-1014 to exercise an option for the full rate production Lot 2 of the Joint Standoff Weapon AGM-154A for the U.S. Navy (414) and U.S. Air Force (74). Work will be performed in Tucson, AZ, and was expected to be completed by March 2002.
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