AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile
The AGM-158 JASSM (Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile) is a low observable standoff air-launched cruise missile developed by Lockheed Martin for the United States Armed Forces. It is a large, stealthy long-range weapon with a 450-kilogram (1,000 lb) armor piercing warhead. It completed testing and entered service with the U.S. Air Force in 2009, and has entered foreign service in Australia, Finland, and Poland as of 2014. An extended range version of the missile, the AGM-158B JASSM-ER (Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range), entered service in 2014. By September 2016, Lockheed Martin had delivered 2,000 total JASSMs comprising both variants to the USAF.
AGM-158B JASSM-ER
The US Air Force studied various improvements to the AGM-158, resulting in the development of the JASSM-Extended Range (JASSM-ER), which received the designation AGM-158B in 2002. Using a more efficient engine and larger fuel volume in an airframe with the same external dimensions as the JASSM, the JASSM-ER is intended to have a range of over 925 km (575 mi) as compared to the JASSM's range of about 370 km (230 mi). Other possible improvements were studied but ultimately not pursued, including a submunition dispenser warhead, new types of homing head, and a new engine giving ranges in excess of 1,000 km (620 mi). The JASSM-ER has 70% hardware commonality and 95% software commonality with the original AGM-158 JASSM.
The first flight test of the JASSM-ER occurred on May 18, 2006 when a missile was launched from a U.S. Air Force B-1 bomber at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The initial platform for the JASSM-ER is the B-1. While both the original JASSM and the JASSM-ER are several inches too long to be carried in the internal weapons bay of the F-35 Lightning II, the F-35 will be able to carry both missiles externally, which would compromise the aircraft's stealth features.
The JASSM-ER entered service with the USAF in April 2014. Although the B-1 was initially the only aircraft able to deploy it, it was later integrated onto the B-52, F-15E, and F-16; the B-1B can carry a full load of 24 JASSM-ERs, the B-2 16 missiles, and the B-52 outfitted with the 1760 Internal Weapons Bay Upgrade (IWBU) is able to carry 20 JASSM-ERs, eight internally and 12 on external pylons. It is also carried on U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and F-35C fighters. The Air Force approved full-rate production of the JASSM-ER in December 2014. Integration of the JASSM-ER onto the B-52 and F-16 was expected to wrap up in 2018, with the F-15E completed after that; it was announced that the JASSM-ER achieved full operational capability on the F-15E in February 2018. Lot 15 production contract, awarded in June 2017 was the first consisting entirely JASSM-ER.
On 14 May 2015, the head of the Air Force Research Laboratory nominated the JASSM-ER as the optimal air vehicle to carry the Counter-electronics High Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP) payload. CHAMP is an electronic warfare technology that fries electronic equipment with bursts of high-power microwave energy, non-kinetically destroying them. The JASSM-ER was chosen because it is an operational system, so CHAMP is to be miniaturized into the operationally relevant system.
In November 2019, the Air Force retired the AGM-86C/D air-launched cruise missile (ALCM), a conventional warhead-equipped version of the nuclear-tipped ALCM, with its role replaced by the JASSM-ER.
In September 2021, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that Australia would acquire the JASSM-ER for the RAAF's F/A-18F Super Hornet and F-35A fighters.
AGM-158C LRASM
Main article: AGM-158C LRASM
The JASSM-ER is also the basis for Long Range Anti-Ship Missile, which is a JASSM-ER with a new seeker. The Air Force used the B-1 Lancer to complete a captive carry test of an LRASM to ensure the bomber can carry it, as both missiles use the same airframe. The LRASM was not originally planned to be deployed on the B-1, being intended solely as a technology demonstrator, but in February 2014 the Pentagon authorized the LRASM to be integrated onto air platforms, including the Air Force B-1, as an operational weapon to address the needs of the Navy and Air Force to have a modern anti-ship missile. In August 2015, the Navy officially designated the air-launched LRASM as "AGM-158C". The LRASM achieved Early Operational Capability on the B-1B in December 2018.
AGM-158D JASSM-XR
In March 2016, Lockheed Martin began analysis on an enhanced wing design to further increase range. In September 2018, the corporation was awarded a contract to develop an "Extreme Range" variant of the AGM-158. The weapon would weigh about 2,300 kg (5,000 lb) and deliver a 910 kg (2,000 lb) warhead out to a range of 1,900 km (1,200 mi; 1,000 nmi). The JASSM-XR, officially designated the AGM-158D, features a new missile control unit, changes to the wings, a different paint coating, an Electronic Safe and Arm Fuze, secure GPS receiver, and program protection requirements at a unit cost of $1.5 million. Low-rate initial production is to begin in 2021 as part of Lot 19 with deliveries beginning in January 2024 at a rate of five per month for the first 40 missiles.
GALLERY
W80 Mod 4 Nuclear Warhead