F-35 JSF on Target with “SOM” Cruise Missile
Roketsan and Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control Signed a Teaming Agreement for collaboration on the SOM-J,a new generation air-to-surface Stand-off Cruise Missile for the F-35 Lightning II on 22th October.
Undersecretary for Defence Industries Prof.İsmail Demir, Ambassador of the United States to Turkey Mr. JohnBass, Roketsan Chairman of the Board Dr. Eyüp Kaptan, Executive Vice President of the Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control Business Area Mr.Rick Edwards, TÜBİTAK Vice President Mr. Abdullah Çavuşoğlu and many civil representatives and military officials attended the ceremony held for the award of the agreement by Lockheed Martin and Roketsan,at the Undersecretariat for Defence Industry’s premises in Ankara.
In his speech at the ceremony, Undersecretary for Defence Industries Prof.İsmail Demir mentioned that he presumed that the long-term strategic partnership to be established with Lockheed Martin, the SOM-J cruise missile will become prominent as a competitive choice especially for the United States and allied countries armed forces and continued “We will be taking a strong step towards the export potential of a product, all engineering processes from conceptual design to system engineering, design verification to airworthiness tests of which have been conducted in Turkey” Prof. Demir stated that the SOM-J cruise missile developed according to the requirements of the Turkish Armed Forces can be manufactured in various configurations for the needs of other F-35 JSF users. Prof. Demir also mentioned that they met Ambassador of the United States to Ankara Mr. John Bass before the signing ceremony and added “ We discussed that the military cooperation between Turkey and the United States should be transformed joint production, joint activities chain rather than a customer-seller relation.”
Roketsan Chairman of the Board Dr. Eyüp Kaptan said “As Roketsan, we believe this teaming will increase the attention on SOM-J and present superior solution to fulfill the requirements of Anti Surface Warfare capabilities on the F-35 aircraft. Together with Lockheed Martin, we value our cooperation and extend the business opportunities in the future between our companies.”
Kaptan underlined that the aforesaid cooperation should be considered as a giant leap for the Turkish defence industry and said that they were proud to sign an agreement for the new generation long-range missile system.
“Lockheed Martin has a long history of partnership with the republic of Turkey and we look forward to working closely with Roketsan on this very important project” said Executive Vice President Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control Business Area Mr. Rick Edward and added “SOM-J will provide the F-35 and other aircraft an exceptional capability to meet the most challenging mission requirements. We look forward to combining the skills and know-how of our two great companies to produce a world-class system to meet customers expanding needs for long-range,survivable cruise missile technology.”
Following the speeches the agreement and a memoir special to the ceremony were signed.
Turkish Indigenous Stand-off-Missile (SOM) Variants
An Air-to-Surface munitions system designed for use against actively protected land and naval targets, the next generation SOM cruise missile boasts a modular design to support operational flexibility. It has a 250 km extended range, low visibility, high maneuverability, and the ability to operate under all weather conditions. The missile has entered mass-production and is planned to be integrated to the F-4E Terminator 2020 and the F-16 Block 40 combat aircraft fleet of the Turkish Air Force.
With this agreement signed after the SOM-A and SOM-B variants that are planned to be used under the wings at aircraft’s external stations in Block 40 F-16 and F-4E Terminator 2020’s at Turkish Armed Forces inventory, SOM-J missiles will be used at the internal stations at the airframes of F-35 aircrafts that Turkey will be purchasing. Within the scope of the project conducted by the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries, SOM-J cruise missiles will be developed in a particular way so that they could be carried at the internal arms station of F-35 aircraft and will be used as a modern surface cruise missile.
SOM-J will have similar avionic characteristics to other SOM variants but compared to other variants of SOM missile family,SOM-J is designed to fit internal bay of F-35. Another major difference is the warhead of SOM-J which is anti-ship and semi-armour piercing type.The Warhead has also blast/fragmentation effects on soft targets (i.epersonnel, unarmored military vehicles,radars,buildings)
F-35 JSF Platform Integration Activities
As stated in the contract between Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (SSM) and Lockheed Martin Aero, the platform integration activities for the JSF program have started in parallel with the SOM-J variant development.
Integration studies consist of three phases. Phase-1 (Feasibility Study) has already been completed, and for the time-being Phase-2A-Integration (Risk Reduction) studies are being carried out in cooperation with Lockheed Martin Aero and TÜBİTAK SAGE.While Phase-2A studies are proceeding,wind tunnel tests have already been conducted successfully. It is scheduled that Phase-2A studies will be completed by the end of 2014.
Additionally, SOM-J program is planned to progress simultaneously with JSF Development Program.Finalization of the complete product is planned in 2018.
