Boeing today delivered to the U.S. Air Force the first six Conventional Air Launched Cruise Missiles, or CALCMs, produced at the company's Weapons Programs facility in St. Charles, Mo.
Boeing is converting 322 nuclear Air-Launched Cruise Missiles to non-nuclear CALCM AGM-86C Block 1 and Block 1A configurations for the U.S. Air Force.
"Today's successful delivery is the result of outstanding teamwork between Boeing, its suppliers and the U.S. Air Force," said Chris Sales, Boeing CALCM program manager. "We restructured what was supposed to be a 17-month program into seven months, and today we're on the threshold of putting that first valuable round back into the warfighters' inventory right on schedule."
CALCM is an affordable, long-range standoff weapon that has been employed effectively in combat in Operation Desert Storm, Desert Strike, Desert Fox and most recently Operation Allied Force.
Conversions are being completed in St. Charles alongside production of the Navy's Harpoon and SLAM ER missiles and the multi-service JDAM precision weapon. Boeing personnel in Seattle, where the ALCMs and early CALCMs were produced, are providing engineering and logistics support work.
The last of the 322 CALCMs will be delivered to the Air Force by mid-2001.
Boeing is the world leader in cruise missiles, having produced nearly 11,000, including the Harpoon, SLAM and more than 1,700 ALCMs.
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