On Friday, September 27, 2024, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) of the Air Force Materiel Command at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense, signed a contract worth 3,230,277,154 USD with Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, based in Orlando, Florida, for the production of the 22nd batch of AGM-158 JASSM (Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile) cruise missiles, including for export customers through the FMS (Foreign Military Sales) program: Poland, Japan, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Finland.
Two JASSM missiles carried by an F-35A Lightning II / Image: Lockheed Martin
All work will be carried out in Orlando with a deadline of July 31, 2032. The funds come from the NDAA defense budget for the fiscal year 2024, including 1,493,277,729 USD for the U.S. Air Force (USAF) to purchase missiles, 176,250,000 USD for the U.S. Navy to purchase weapons, 2,147,497 USD again for the USAF for operational support and readiness maintenance, and 751,690,016 USD from the FMS program funds.
Since only the extended-range AGM-158B JASSM-ER (Extended Range) missiles are currently in production, the above contract pertains specifically to this version. These missiles have a range of at least 926 km (and in practice over 1000 km), compared to 340 km in the basic AGM-158A JASSM version.
Poland
On May 28, 2024, a contract worth approximately 735 million USD net (2.871 billion PLN net / 3.531 billion PLN gross) was signed for the delivery of several hundred AGM-158B-2 JASSM-ER missiles (according to information from U.S. documents: 400 units) from a total batch of 821 units, for which Poland received approval on March 12, 2024.
According to previous information, Poland has purchased 40 AGM-158A JASSM missiles and 70 AGM-158B JASSM-ER missiles. They have been integrated with F-16C/D Block 52+ Advanced aircraft. The missiles from the new batch will also be integrated with F-35A Husarz aircraft. Last year, there was interest expressed in the AGM-158D JASSM-XR (Extreme Range), which is being developed and is expected to have an estimated range of 1,600-1,900 km.
Japan
On July 4, 2024, a contract was signed by the Tokyo government for the purchase of 50 AGM-158B-2 JASSM-ER missiles, which were valued at up to 104 million USD on August 28, 2023. These missiles will be carried by 98 Mitsubishi F-15J/DJ Kai air superiority fighters of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (Kōkū Jieitai), which are being upgraded by Boeing in cooperation with local Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) to the F-15JSI (Japanese Super Interceptor) standard. The integration plans were announced back in December 2017.
The JASSM-ER missiles may also be considered in the plan announced on August 6, 2023, to explore the concept of modifying Kawasaki C-2 medium transport aircraft to carry palletized long-range cruise missiles in their cargo hold, which would be launched after being dropped in mid-air.
Kingdom of Netherlands
On July 29, 2024, the government in The Hague ordered 120 AGM-158B/B-2 JASSM-ER missiles, which were valued at up to 908 million USD as part of a package on February 5 of this year. The purchase plans were revealed on April 3, 2023.
Similar to Poland, these missiles will be carried by F-35A Lightning II aircraft (with the ultimate goal of reaching 58 units according to the latest plans), which achieved Full Operational Capability (FOC) on September 26 of this year, replacing F-16AM/BM MLU Block 10/15 aircraft in service with the Royal Netherlands Air Force (Koninklijke Luchtmacht).
Finland
On May 31, 2024, the government in Helsinki signed a contract for the purchase of, most likely, 200 AGM-158B-2 JASSM-ER missiles, which were included in the package with 64 F-35A aircraft announced on October 9, 2020.
So far, along with 62 F/A-18 Hornets, the Finnish Air Force (Suomen Ilmavoimat) has been using AGM-158A JASSM missiles (approval was granted in October 2011, an order worth 178.5 million USD was placed in March 2012, and integration was completed in March 2018).
Who else in the Future?
It is expected that Australia (already using the basic JASSM missiles) and Germany, which has requested 75 missiles for its F-35A aircraft, should join the group of JASSM-ER users in the near future.
JASSM-family missiles have been used in combat at least twice so far. In April 2018, American B-1B Lancer bombers launched 18 of them at targets in Syria, and on October 27, 2019, an undisclosed number of missiles were used to destroy the headquarters of the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in that country, near the Turkish border. (It has not been publicly disclosed whether B-1B bombers used these missiles in the latest attack on February 2 of this year on Iranian targets in Syria and Iraq).
