B-52H B-1B B-2A F-16C/D A-6E
7-628: The Northrop AGM-137 TSSAM ( Tri-Service Standoff Attack Missile ) was a standoff cruise missile developed for the three branches of the United States Armed Forces , hence "tri-service". Missile development began in 1986 but revelation of cost-overruns in 1991 prompted the Army to pull out of the project and an investigation of the procurement process by the General Accounting Office (GAO, now referred to as
14-982: The Government Accountability Office). The TSSAM program was eventually cancelled in December 1994 pursuant to a GAO recommendation and the loss of support of the United States Army after going as far as several test launches. The United States Air Force began developing the Tri-Service Standoff Attack Missile (TSSAM) in 1986; the intent was to produce a family of stealthy missiles for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and United States Army which would be capable of long range, autonomous guidance, automatic target recognition , and sufficient accuracy and warhead power to be capable of destroying well-protected structures either on land or at sea. All versions of
21-505: The missile would use inertial navigation aided by Global Positioning System (GPS). The Navy and one Air Force version were to use an imaging infrared homing terminal sensor to recognize the target and terminal homing, and would be fitted with a unitary warhead. A second version Army missile would be launched by two booster rockets and carry the Combined Effects Bomblet (CEB) submunition against land targets. It
28-399: The recommendation that the project be cancelled. The project suffered from budgetary problems, some related to the distribution of the budget between the three services. This resulted in funding shortfalls and delays. The missiles also suffered from technical development issues, pushing the unit cost from the original 1986 figure of $ 728,000 per missile to $ 2,062,000 in 1994. The project which
35-477: The target area. Typically, they are used against land- and sea-based targets in an offensive operation. The name is derived from their ability to engage the target while standing off outside the range at which the defenders are likely to engage the attacker. Typical stand-off weapons include cruise missiles , glide bombs and short-range ballistic missiles . Standoff missiles belong to the larger class of ranged weapons . This article relating to missiles
42-503: Was intended to be used by all three services (hence, Tri-service), lost Army support in 1993 and was canceled as a result. Technology developed for the TSSAM was used in the JASSM program. Standoff missile Standoff weapons are missiles or bombs which may be launched from a distance sufficient to allow attacking personnel to evade the effect of the weapon or defensive fire from
49-527: Was planned to carry the missile on the B-52H , F-16C/D , B-1 , B-2 , A-6E , and F/A-18C/D ; the Army version was to be launched from the MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) vehicle. In 1991 the previously black budget figures for TSSAM were revealed, showing a roughly 6 billion dollar cost overrun over the original contract price. This prompted a GAO investigation into the procurement process which resulted in
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