Lockheed Martin to develop new missile

[United Press International]

BETHESDA, Md., May 5 (UPI) -- The Lockheed Martin Corp.
announced Wednesday it will develop the United States Joint Common
Missile system -- the next generation air-to-ground missile.
The company said the federal contract is worth approximately
$5 billion, with an initial contract of $53 million for work on the
program's system design and the system's development phase.
The missile design and development contract includes a
14-month risk reduction phase and a 36-month testing phase to ready
the JCM for initial production. The first JCMs are expected to
reach the field in 2010.
The U.S. Army, Navy and Marine Corps plan to acquire as many
as 54,000 JCM rounds to replace the Longbow/Hellfire missiles on the
Apache, Cobra, and Strikehawk helicopters and the Maverick missile
on the F/A-18 Hornet jet fighter.
The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense has also expressed
potential interest in co-developing and producing the new missile.