Lockheed Martin has performed more than 8,600 hours of tests on its Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) cooled seeker, proving its operational capability and low risk.

Lockheed Martin's cooled seeker technology is a primary discriminator in its pursuit of the U.S. Army's JAGM competition. The cooled seeker design provides longer range targeting than an uncooled seeker, which is critical to aircrew safety in the presence of air defense systems.

Additionally, a cooled seeker delivers clearer imagery than an uncooled seeker.

"We have thoroughly tested our JAGM seeker in all operational conditions, confirming our decision to go with the cooled seeker design," said Frank St. John, vice president of tactical missiles in Lockheed Martin's Missiles and Fire Control business.

"A cooled seeker provides the increased performance that is required to destroy the full range of JAGM targets in all operational conditions at safe standoff ranges."

The seeker tests included lab, van, tower and captive flight tests on Lockheed Martin's tri-mode seeker variants. Hardware-in-the-loop environmental tests and missile flight tests were also performed, including 3,000 hours of testing during the program's Technology Demonstration phase.

Testing also included data collection against a variety of targets (heavy armor, littoral, stationary and moving) over a range of environmental and countermeasure conditions, providing unparalleled real-world data for development, verification and validation of the seeker algorithms.

Work on the Lockheed Martin JAGM program will be performed in Orlando and Ocala, Fla., and Troy, Ala., as well at suppliers' facilities across the U.S. and in the UK. Contract award is expected in late 2011.