Deputy CNO Joseph Aucoin Eyes Lockheed, Raytheon Missiles for Anti-Surface Warfare Mission

The U.S. Navy‘s number-two uniformed officer eyes Lockheed Martin‘s Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile and Raytheon‘s Tomahawk cruise missile as possible options for the Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare program, Breaking Defense reported Wednesday.

Breaking Defense quoted Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, deputy chief of naval operations,  as saying he wants the military service to compare a Block IV Tomahawk with a LRASM Increment 1.

LRASM is a variant of an Air Force missile technology while the Tomahawk is designed to attack stationary ground targets, according to the report by Sydney Freedberg Jr.

Freedberg writes that Bryan Clark, a retired Navy commander, recommended the military service update both missile systems to attack targets on land aand adversarial ships.

Clark has also proposed updates to the SM-6 Standard Missile interceptor weapon for anti-ship warfare missions, the report said.