Lockheed Martin said Sept. 22 that the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile had successfully completed its product upgrade verification flight test on Sept. 18 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. This particular PUV test focused on the missile’s employment of GPS in a jamming environment. The test missile struck its target, oblivious to jamming attempts. “JASSM’s ability to function in a jamming environment is one of its major benefits to our warfighters,” said Randy Bigum, Lockheed’s Strike Weapons VP. The JASSM program has undergone an extensive overhaul and subsequently completed a critical series of flight tests.
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…