Air Force asks Lockheed Martin for air-to-surface missiles with infrared seeker and satellite navigation

Summary points:

• The U.S. Air Force has placed a $4.3 billion order with Lockheed Martin to increase production of Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) and Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASM), boosting total contract value to $9.5 billion.
• JASSM variants, including the AGM-158D, will feature extended ranges of up to 1,200 miles and advanced guidance systems, ensuring air crews remain out of reach of hostile defenses.
• Lockheed Martin's LRASM, an advanced anti-ship missile, will replace the aging Harpoon missile, featuring enhanced sensors and anti-jamming capabilities to target enemy ships from long distances in challenging electronic warfare environments.

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – U.S. Air Force air-to-surface missiles experts are asking Lockheed Martin Corp. to increase production of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and Long-Range Anti-Ship (LRASM) Missile.

Officials of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., announced a $4.3 billion order in late July to the Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control segment in Orlando, Fla., to provide JASSM Lots 22-26 and LRASM Lots 9-12. This order brings the total value of the contract to $9.5 billion.

JASSM, which has been in service since 2009, is a long-range, conventional, air-to-ground, precision standoff missile for U.S. and allied forces that is designed to destroy high-value, well-defended, fixed and relocatable targets. The JASSM has a range of 230 miles, while the extended-range JASSM-ER has a range of 620 miles. This involves foreign military sales to Poland, Netherlands, Japan, and Finland.

The 5,000-pound AGM-158D will nearly double the range of the JASSM-ER to 1,200 miles and carry an explosive warhead of 2,000 pounds by using an enhanced wing design, new missile control unit, a different paint coating, an electronic safe and arm fuze, and secure GPS receiver. The first AGM-158D deliveries were in early 2024.

Long-range cruise missile

The JASSM-ER is a 2,250-pound cruise missile with a 1,000-pound penetrator and blast-fragmentation warhead. It uses precision routing and guidance in adverse weather, day or night, using an infrared seeker in addition to the anti-jam GPS to find a specific aim point on the target. The order includes hardware spares.

The stealthy JASSM missiles have standoff ranges to keep air crews well out of danger from hostile air defense systems, while their stealthy airframes makes the smart munitions extremely difficult to defeat, Lockheed Martin officials say.

The AGM-158B JASSM-ER is a stealthy cruise missile that flies a preplanned route from launch to a target, using Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite navigation guidance and an internal navigation system. It has an infrared seeker for terminal guidance.

JASSM can be fired from several different aircraft, including the B-1, B-2, B-52, F-16, F/A-18E/F, and F-15E. International JASSM users include the Australian, Finnish, and Polish air forces.

Looking to the future, Lockheed Martin is upgrading the JASSM to enable the missile to fire from U.S. and international versions of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter aircraft and other international military aircraft.

Tell me more about how JASSM and LRASM compare and contrast ...

• LRASM is based on the AGM-158B JASSM-ER airframe and shares the same 1,000-pound warhead and anti-jam GPS guidance system. However, LRASM has additional features like a multi-mode passive RF sensor, an infrared seeker, a new weapon data link, and an uprated power system to enhance autonomous targeting capabilities, particularly against naval targets in contested environments.

LRASM, meanwhile, is for use against high-priority enemy targets like aircraft carriers, troop transport ships, and guided-missile cruisers. The LRASM anti-ship missile contract will support missiles for the U.S. Navy, Air Force, and U.S. allies.

LRASM is designed to detect and destroy high-priority targets within groups of ships from extended ranges in electronic warfare jamming environments. It is a precision-guided, anti-ship standoff missile based on the Lockheed Martin Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range (JASSM-ER).

Experts say the range of the AGM-158C-1 LRASM variant is in excess of 200 nautical miles. Extending the missile's range could give it a maximum distance envelope of 500 nautical miles or farther.

LRASM travels at high subsonic speeds, and likely will give way in the future to expected new generations of hypersonic missiles. Submarine-launched versions are under consideration.

Harpoon replacement

The advanced anti-ship missile is intended to replace the ageing Harpoon anti-ship missile. It has a multi-mode RF sensor, a new weapon data-link and altimeter, and an uprated power system.

The LRASM can be guided toward enemy ships from as far away as 200 nautical miles by its launch aircraft, can receive updates via its datalink, or can use onboard sensors to find its target. LRASM will fly towards its target at medium altitude then drop to low altitude for a sea skimming approach to counter shipboard anti-missile defenses.

The LRASM uses on-board targeting systems to acquire the target independently without the presence of intelligence or supporting services like GPS satellite navigation and data links. Lockheed Martin is designing he missile with advanced counter-countermeasures to evade hostile active defense systems.

The Lockheed Martin LRASM has a 1,000-pound penetrator and blast-fragmentation warhead, multi-mode sensor, weapon data link, and enhanced digital anti-jam global positioning system to detect and destroy selected surface targets within groups of ships.

Anti-ship missile gap

LRASM development is in response to a gap in Navy anti-ship missile technology identified in 2008. The standard Navy anti-ship missile is the subsonic Harpoon, which has been in the inventory since 1977.

LRASM is a joint project of the U.S. Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., the Navy, and the U.S. Air Force to design an advanced anti-ship missile that can launch from B-1B Lancer jet bombers, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet jet fighter-bombers, F-35 Lightning II strike fighters, P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, and surface vessels via the Mark 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS).

The BAE Systems Electronic Systems segment in Nashua, N.H., is providing next-generation missile seekers LRASM to enable the missile to strike high-value maritime targets from long range in aggressive electronic warfare (EW) jamming environments.

The seeker comprises long-range sensors and targeting technology that help the stealthy missile find and engage protected enemy ships amid attempts to jam or spoof the missile, BAE Systems officials say.

LRASM guidance

The BAE Systems LRASM seeker uses sensor fusion to blend information from the missile's on-board radar, semi-autonomous guidance, Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite navigation, high-speed secure tactical networking links, and nearby sensors to strike high-value targets from long range while avoiding shipboard missile counter-fire.

The missile guidance sensor uses semi-autonomous guidance and target cueing data to locate and attack targets precisely and reduce reliance on airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft, networking links, and GPS navigation.

BAE Systems designers also are working to make the seeker system smaller, more capable, and more efficient to produce. Building LRASM is the Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control segment in Orlando, Fla. Lockheed Martin is in charge of LRASM overall development, and the BAE Systems is developing the LRASM onboard sensor systems.

On this contract Lockheed Martin will do the work in Orlando, Fla., and Troy, Ala., and should be finished by January 2033. For more information contact Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control online at www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/who-we-are/business-areas/missiles-and-fire-control.html, or the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at www.aflcmc.af.mil.