The successful PAM flight test represents a significant milestone for both the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) weaponization goals and for the NLOS-LS program. NLOS-LS PAM and Container Launch Unit (CLU) have been selected as a surface warfare weapon for the LCS, the Navy's next-generation multi-mission ship.

The PAM missile BTV was vertically launched from the NLOS-LS CLU that was integrated onto a motion simulator. The ship motion simulator is able to replicate a range of sea conditions that the LCS is likely to encounter while under way. The PAM BTV flight test was conducted in upper-sea-state-three conditions to demonstrate the safe egress of the PAM missile from the CLU. Sea state three represents conditions where a vessel experiences three- to five-foot waves and winds exceeding 15 knots.

"We're extremely pleased with this first shoot-on-the-move demonstration of the combined PAM and CLU," said Nelson B. Mills, LCS Surface Warfare project lead, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, Va. "The PAM missile's performance specification for the U. S. Navy requires that the missile is capable of being fired from a moving platform experiencing diverse movements along all three axes. This demonstration was a significant accomplishment in engineering for the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship as well as the Army's Future Combat System."

"The successful PAM BTV flight test for the Navy is another example of the demonstrated technical maturity of the NLOS-LS PAM missile and CLU," said Scott Speet, executive vice president of the NetFires LLC and Raytheon's NLOS-LS program director. "The ability of the PAM and the CLU to meet the Navy and Army performance requirements is a credit to the design team and the close system engineering work between Raytheon and our Navy and Army customers."

The NLOS-LS system consists of Raytheon's PAM, Lockheed Martin's Loitering Attack Missile and a joint CLU. In 2004, the Army accelerated fielding of the Raytheon PAM and joint CLU to the Army's Evaluation Brigade Combat Team into Spin Out 1 in fiscal year 2008.

The Navy selected NLOS-LS PAM and CLU as the premier engagement capability against surface warfare threats for the Littoral Combat Ship. The Navy expects to build more than 50 LCSs with the first ships commissioned in fiscal year 2008.

NLOS-LS provides a commander with immediate, precise and responsive fires on high-payoff targets with real-time target acquisition and battle effects. PAM is a direct-attack missile that is effective against moving and stationary targets on land and sea at ranges from zero to 21 nautical miles and is effective against hard and soft targets. The missile includes a networked datalink that provides in-flight updates to each missile with ground and airborne sensor nodes and has a large multi-mode warhead effective against both hard and soft targets.

Related Links
Raytheon Missile Systems
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control