missing track file JSOW has way too small drag - record of 85 km glide

[Fri13]

 

Witnessed today a JSOW AGM-154C launch at 1847 m ASL altitude, at speed of 585 km/h and it glided 10 minutes for ~85 km and it would have likely continued another 100 km if the mission would have not ended, as TacView shows that it would have kinetic energy and air speed as well altitude to do it 2-3 times longer if not disturbed.

 

 

Yes, it is boring video as it is playing in real-time the whole 10 minutes from release to end of mission. But at the end of the video you can still see nicely the glide bomb parameters how it could have continued its travel almost forever.

 

The bomb should have about 130 km maximum range at very high altitude release and at high speed, and that only on paper really. But now JSOW can glide even past that from release parameters that shouldn't even be usable for minimum range.

 

 

[July]

+1

 

I don't have a .trk file handy atm to show but have a tacview if anyone is interested, but I have personally been able to get 120NM hits with the AGM-154Cs from doing a manual release while seeing the same behaviour stated above.

I am almost certain they can go further, terrain permitting.