Simply over a 12 months after the primary inert drop of the brand new Stand-in Assault Weapon, or SiAW, Northrop Grumman introduced on Dec. 11 that one other separation check had been accomplished from an F-16 Preventing Falcon.
The inert weapon was dropped as a part of ongoing testing to validate the SiAW’s flight security and aerodynamic efficiency forward of its entry into operational service. Although the precise date of the check was not introduced, the information comes virtually precisely one 12 months after the Dec. 3, 2024 announcement concerning the first ever SiAW separation check on Nov. 7, 2024. No new imagery was launched alongside the check announcement, as an alternative the discharge re-used a picture from final 12 months.
SiAW is scheduled to succeed in preliminary working functionality (IOC) in 2026, although it’s unclear whether or not the check program stays on schedule for this deadline. The weapon has been developed utilizing F-16s, with a roll out to F-35As – which can be capable of carry the weapon internally – scheduled within the close to future. Then, additional down the road, it’s deliberate to be built-in with the F-15E Strike Eagle, F-15EX Eagle II, and B-21 Raider.
We accomplished a separation check of the Stand-In Assault Weapon from an F-16 with the @usairforce ! This milestone highlights SiAW’s flight security, aerodynamic efficiency and progress towards integrating with fifth-generation platforms just like the F-35. Learn extra:… pic.twitter.com/jtwWgBwsY3
— Northrop Grumman (@NGCNews) December 11, 2025
Few precise specs are recognized concerning the missile’s efficiency, however it has been developed utilizing know-how from the AGM-88G Superior Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM-ER). Presumably, then, the SiAW will supply equal or, extra doubtless, higher efficiency by way of vary, pace, and steering functionality. Along with the AARGM-ER’s SEAD function, focusing on hostile radar websites, the SiAW is designed for use towards a wider vary of anti-aircraft or space denial techniques together with missile launchers, command and management websites, GPS jamming or different digital warfare installations, and extra.
For these new right here, the Stand-in Assault Weapon #SiAW is USAF’s #HARM substitute. SiAW is required to have a functionality to strike quickly re-locatable targets that “create the Anti-Entry/Space Denial (A2/AD) surroundings for fifth Era and Future Superior Plane”. Targets… pic.twitter.com/hOxTTXhNjM
— AirPower | MIL-STD (@AirPowerNEW1) October 26, 2025
Northrop Grumman was awarded the $705 million contract to develop the missile in 2023, promising the completion of growth, integration, and testing inside 36 months – which results in the plan for a 2026 declaration of IOC.
Colonel Gary E. Roos, senior materiel chief on the Adaptive Weapons Division, Air Drive Life Cycle Administration Heart, mentioned: “The separation check of SiAW from the F-16 is meant to supply america Air Drive validation of the weapon’s secure separation traits and in addition generate invaluable information for optimizing its efficiency. The outcomes can reinforce SiAW’s capability to supply a essential benefit to warfighters within the face of evolving threats.”
Vice President of Superior Weapons at Northrop Grumman, Chuck Johnson, added: “This milestone is a key step ahead for the SiAW program. With the insights from the separation check, we are going to proceed missile growth and in the end, ship a essential functionality to the warfighter. Our work ensures the U.S. Air Drive may have a extremely survivable precision strike weapon that may meet present and future mission wants.”
SiAW is meant to bolster the U.S. Air Drive’s capability to reliably assault and destroy closely defended, time-sensitive targets inside contested airspace. Inside carriage on the F-35 is an enormous part of this functionality, permitting the fighter to take care of its highest ranges of stealth. Two SiAWs could possibly be carried internally by every F-35A plane.
Fashionable design practices, together with digital engineering and using open architectures, is meant to permit the SiAW to obtain extra frequent and more cost effective functionality enhancements in comparison with legacy weapons, lots of that are merely dismantled and changed by newer fashions moderately than present process upgrades.
Lockheed Martin developed its personal proposal for the SiAW program, with an inner identify of Mako, although the corporate elected to not proceed additional with that particular contract. Whereas Mako missed out on SiAW, Lockheed Martin has continued its growth and markets it as a mass-producible, cost-effective, and excessive efficiency weapon appropriate for deployment from the F-35 and F-22 internally, and externally on the F-35B and a variety of fourth technology fighters.
