The US Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman identical $18 million Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW) Phase 1.3 contracts.
The contract work is expected to be completed by August 26, 2023.
The contract follows previous SiAW contracts awarded to the two companies and L3 Harris in June and August last year.
SiAW Expected Features
The USAF outlined in 2019 that the SiAW is intended to defeat adversary anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) environments.
The weapon is expected to take out platforms such as “theater ballistic missile launchers, land attack and anti-ship cruise missile launchers, GPS jammers, anti-satellite systems, and integrated air defense systems.”
Based on the AARGM-ER Program
The weapon launch platform will be the F-35.
The SiAW builds on Northrop’s advanced anti-radiation guided missile – extended range program with additions of the “universal armament interface, warhead/fuze.”
The service has allocated $1.9 billion for the SiAW development work from 2023 to 2027, including nearly $78 million to procure 43 missiles in 2023. Each missile costs $1.5 million.
