One of the priorities set by U.S. military leadership is the development of new anti-surface capabilities able to operate in highly contested operational environments. Among these new developments, the Stand-In Attack Weapon (SiAW) air-to-ground missile stands out, a system that will primarily be deployed from fifth-generation F-35 fighters. For this reason, various milestones in its development program have been recorded in recent months and years, including launch tests carried out using U.S. Air Force F-16 fighters—the most recent of which took place just days ago.
Officially designated as SiAW (Stand-In Attack Weapon), it is a new air-to-surface missile designed to be launched from fifth-generation platforms from their internal weapons bays. Currently developed by Northrop Grumman, the U.S. company states that it is specifically designed “to rapidly attack and defeat high-value, time-sensitive threats in contested environments.” It adds that the system “expands the U.S. Air Force’s target set to include heavily defended land targets. The missile is designed using digital engineering and features open-architecture interfaces that will allow rapid subsystem upgrades to incorporate enhanced capabilities.”
Among the most recent milestones in its development, the first launch test was recorded in early July 2024 in the Gulf of Mexico by an F-16 belonging to the 40th Flight Test Squadron, coordinated by the 96th Test Wing from the Central Control Facility at Eglin Air Force Base, producing a satisfactory result.
Since then, there had been no major updates regarding the flight-test campaign until yesterday, December 11, when Northrop Grumman confirmed the execution of a new test flight, once again conducted by an F-16 that took off from Eglin Air Force Base.
In broad terms, the test consisted of evaluating missile separation in order to validate the missile’s aerodynamic performance parameters, as well as to verify and define safety mechanisms for launch from the F-16 and from future platforms that will employ the SiAW.
In this regard, it should also be noted that in recent months there has been an increase in the number of tests conducted on the integration and use of anti-surface weapons, which are launched from F-16 aircraft. It is worth mentioning those observed at the beginning of this year, where an aircraft from Detachment 3 of the 53rd Test and Evaluation Group was observed carrying the test and training version of the Harpoon missile, which was identified as an XATM-84N Harpoon Block II+ training missile.
In the words of Col. Gary E. Roos, senior materiel leader, Adaptive Weapons Division, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center: “The SiAW separation test from the F-16 aims to provide the United States Air Force with validation of the weapon’s safe-separation characteristics and also generate invaluable data to optimize its performance. The results may reinforce SiAW’s ability to provide a critical advantage to warfighters against evolving threats.”
Meanwhile, Chuck Johnson, vice president of advanced weapons at Northrop Grumman, stated: “This milestone is a key step for the SiAW program. With the insights gained from the separation test, we will continue missile development and ultimately deliver a critical capability to the warfighter. Our work ensures that the U.S. Air Force will have a highly capable, survivable precision-strike weapon that meets the needs of current and future missions.”
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