The Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW) is a tactical

air-to-surface missile An air-to-surface missile (ASM) or air-to-ground missile (AGM) is a missile designed to be launched from military aircraft at targets on land or sea. There are also unpowered guided glide bombs not considered missiles. The two most common prop ...

under development for the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

(USAF) by

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...

. It is primarily designed to attack air-defences and high-value targets such as command-and-control sites, surface-to-surface missile launchers, anti-satellite systems, and GPS jamming systems.

History

In May 2022, the USAF awarded contracts to

L3Harris Technologies L3Harris Technologies, Inc. is an American technology company, defense contractor, and information technology service (economics), services provider that produces products for command and control systems, wireless equipment, tactical radios, avi ...

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...

and

to begin the first phase of development for the Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW). On 28 September 2023, the USAF awarded a US$705m contract to Northrop Grumman to develop and test the SiAW. The SiAW is intended to attack relocatable targets including theater ballistic missile launchers, cruise and

anti-ship missile An anti-ship missile (AShM or ASM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea-skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. ...

launchers,

GPS jamming GPS jamming is an act of overwhelming satellite navigation receivers with powerful radio signals that drown out the signals from GPS satellites, rendering the receiver unable to calculate its position or time accurately. Such jamming can disrupt v ...

platforms and

anti-satellite Anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) are space weapons designed to incapacitate or destroy satellites for strategic or tactical purposes. Although no ASAT system has been utilized in warfare, a few countries (China, India, Russia, and the United State ...

systems. It will have a shorter range than standoff weapons, being fired by an aircraft after penetrating enemy airspace. The SiAW will fit inside the

F-35 Lightning II The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, supersonic Stealth aircraft, stealth strike fighters. A multirole combat aircraft designed for both Air superiority fighter, air superiority and att ...

's internal weapon bays. The design leverages work on the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

's AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile - Extended Range (AARGM-ER). The USAF plans to have an operational weapon by 2026. In November 2024, Northrop Grumman delivered the first SiAW to the USAF for flight testing.

References

SiAW Northrop Grumman {{Missile-stub

History

See also

References