The U.S. Navy completed the first free-flight test of Raytheon's Joint Standoff Weapon C-1, bringing the world's only net-enabled standoff weapon with moving maritime target capability closer to initial operational capability.

JSOW is a family of low-cost, air-to-ground weapons that employs an integrated GPS-inertial navigation system and terminal imaging infrared seeker, guiding the weapon to the target. JSOW C-1 adds moving maritime target capability and the two-way strike common weapon datalink to the combat-proven weapon.

"When JSOW C-1 reaches initial operational capability, scheduled for 2013, U.S. and international warfighters will have a powerful new weapon," said Lt. Cmdr. Samuel Hanaki, U.S. Navy JSOW Deputy Program Manager. "This weapon will give warfighters the needed capability to precisely engage moving ships at sea from standoff ranges."

The first free flight of the JSOW C-1 demonstrated the weapon's ability to operate on the Link-16 network and autonomously prosecute a mobile maritime target using new seeker algorithms.

During the test, which met all objectives, the JSOW C-1 was released from an F/A-18F Super Hornet and guided to a ship target located 20 nautical miles (more than 23 statute miles) from the launch point.

The JSOW C-1 provided weapon in-flight track and bomb hit indication status messages and used in-flight target updates based on designation of the target ship by the Raytheon Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared pod. The test concluded successfully when the weapon impacted the target at the pre-determined aimpoint.

"The JSOW C-1 first free flight is a definitive demonstration of our ability to modify an existing JSOW C weapon with new hardware and software to implement a critical moving maritime target capability for the Navy's fleet warfighters," said Phyllis McEnroe, Raytheon's JSOW program director.