Northrop Grumman tests A2/AD missile design for USAF SiAW requirement

The Northrop Grumman A2/AD missile mission computer and sensors integrated into a company Bombardier CRJ-700 test aircraft. (Northrop Grumman)

Northrop Grumman has conducted the first in a series of company-funded flight tests of an anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) missile system intended to address the US Air Force's (USAF's) requirement for an enhanced Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW) to equip the F-35A Lightning II multirole stealth fighter.

The test, conducted in the Baltimore-Washington area in mid-December 2021 “utilised a company-owned [Bombardier] CRJ-700 jet aircraft as a testbed to demonstrate the capability of the SiAW missile sensors and mission computer”, a company spokesperson told Janes .

An earlier test, conducted in mid-2020, provided for an initial ‘static hardware test' of the new missile system, the spokesperson confirmed. Northrop Grumman will continue to flight test the system with more stressing scenarios in preparation for a missile launch later this year.

Managed by the Air Force Materiel Command, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), Armament Directorate, Agile Weapons Division, the SiAW programme will furnish the F-35A with an internal carriage air-to-surface missile system that is capable of holding at risk or defeating rapidly relocatable targets that create the A2/AD environment. The SiAW target set includes theatre ballistic missile launchers, land-attack and anti-ship cruise missile launchers, Global Positioning System (GPS) jammers, anti-satellite systems, and integrated air defence systems.