Boeing

The Boeing [NYSE: BA] Standoff Land Attack Missile Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) team successfully demonstrated its new retargeting capability recently at Point Mugu, Calif.

Operating from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis located in the Naval Air Weapons Station Sea Test Range, an F/A-18C Hornet, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 25 (VFA-25), launched a SLAM-ER to destroy a simulated radar site on San Nicolas island, in the Pacific Ocean, used by the U.S. Navy for test and training missions.

The SLAM-ER changed direction when the Hornet pilot identified a new target on the island and sent a land midcourse update. Within several miles of the simulated surface-to-air missile site, the SLAM-ER began to transmit real-time video to an S-3B Viking aircrew assigned to Sea Control Squadron 35 (VS-35). The crew utilized the data to pinpoint the new target and destroy it.

"Flexibility is crucial in combat operations and this new retargeting capability for the SLAM-ER delivers that," said John Lockard, Boeing Naval Systems senior vice president. "The warfighter can launch this versatile weapon and aggressively respond to pop-up threats and eliminate them."

In addition to retargeting, a series of tests were conducted by the U.S. Navy recently that will allow the SLAM-ER to attack land targets moving at highway speeds. When delivered to the fleet in FY 2006, the capability will make SLAM-ER the first operational standoff weapon that can attack moving land targets.

The SLAM-ER is an extremely accurate air-launched, day/night, adverse weather, over-the-horizon, warfighter-in-the-loop, or fire-and-forget precision missile. It is a first strike weapon that can be retargeted in flight by using global positioning system data and an infrared seeker with an advanced data link for precise attacks against targets on land or at sea from long ranges.