Raytheon has demonstrated the ability of a datalink aboard its new maritime glider bomb to communicate with a Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft.

The Strike Common Weapon Datalink (SCWDL) on the Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) C-1 uses the Link-16 network to receive target coordinates from airborne platforms. During the test, the JSOW C-1’s SCWDL received and replied to in-flight target updates from the Joint STARS Joint Tactical Information Distribution System, the company said

The JSOW C-1, being developed for the U.S. Navy, has a range of 70 nautical miles and is designed to strike moving maritime targets in crowded shipping lanes, according to the company.

“The C-1 maintains all the capability of the previous [JSOW] variants, so all the stationary land targets, but it adds the ship target sets,” said Phyllis McEnroe, JSOW program manager. “Previous versions of the JSOW were designed for striking stationary shore targets.”

Raytheon is also developing an extended range version of the glider bomb, which uses an engine to increase its reach to 300 nautical miles, McEnroe said.

“We are spending company money on a version of JSOW, the JSOW ER. It will build on C-1,” McEnroe said. “We will add an engine to it so it can go 300 nautical miles. It will be the first powered, networked weapon.”