Raytheon Missile Systems has been awarded an almost $173 million contract to produce 200 AGM-154C glide bombs for Qatar, the U.S. Department of Defense said in a press release.
“Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, is being awarded a $172,874,170 firm-fixed-price undefinitized contract action to procure 200 AGM-154C Block III joint standoff weapons, 212 containers, various component parts and support equipment for spares, and engineering and technical support for the government of Qatar,” the release said on Wednesday.
The AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) is a low-cost, medium-range precision-guided glide bomb, designed as joint venture between the U.S. Navy and Air Force to engage defended and hardened targets from outside the range of standard anti-aircraft defenses.
It provides standoff capabilities from 28 kilometers (17.4 miles) for a low-altitude launch up to 110 kilometers (68 miles) from a high-altitude launch. The JSOW is a “launch and leave” weapon using both GPS and an inertial navigation system, making it capable of day, night and adverse weather operation.
The AGM-154C variant uses an imaging infra-red seeker for terminal guidance and carries the BROACH two-stage warhead designed to attack hardened targets. The BROACH contains a WDU-44 shaped augmenting warhead and a WDU-45 follow through bomb.
Outside the U.S., AGM-154s are operated by Australia, Canada, Finland, Greece, The Netherlands, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.
The Defense Department said the majority of the work under the contract will be performed in Arizona, Texas, Vermont and Minnesota and other sites around the U.S., while 28 percent will be undertaken in Wales and Scotland in the U.K. Production is scheduled to be completed in June 2020.
$84,708,344 of foreign military sales funds will be obligated at time of award, the release said.
The Naval Air Systems Command awarded the contract, which was not competitively procured.
This post was updated on December 12 to change “cruise missile” to “glide bomb.” The AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon is not powered, although Raytheon tested an Extended Rage version (JSOW-ER) in 2009 which was powered by a Pratt & Whitney TJ-150 turbojet engine. The engine increases the weapon’s range to 560 km.