A new shaped-charge warhead was tested for the Joint Standoff Weapon C-1 (JSOW C-1), Raytheon Co. [RTN] announced.

The Navy tested the new warhead, which delivers the same effect as the warhead currently planned for the JSOW C-1 at a reduced cost to the warfighter.

The move came as Pentagon leaders and key lawmakers are complaining about costs of military hardware, especially cost overruns. Both Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recently voiced displeasure with price tags on weapons systems.

"Cost reduction is critical to JSOW’s success," said Cmdr. Andrew Kessler, deputy program manager for JSOW in the U.S. Navy’s Precision Strike Weapons program office. "We’re always on the lookout for new opportunities to maintain or improve weapon capability for the warfighter at reduced cost to the taxpayer."

The Navy and Raytheon funded the demonstration and used proprietary warhead technology developed by Raytheon. It was the second demonstration of this technology on the JSOW; the first took place in late 2007.

JSOW is a family of affordable air-to-ground weapons, employing an integrated GPS/Inertial Navigation System for targeting.

The JSOW C-1 builds upon the JSOW C by adding a data link, enabling the system to receive in-flight target updates from the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft. The weapon also has new seeker algorithms to allow the missile to hit moving maritime targets.