Armament Directorate reaches milestone with JASSM-ER

Published April 8, 2014

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla -- The Armament Directorate celebrated a milestone with the delivery of the first production lot of Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile Extended Range missiles to Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, last month.

The JASSM family of weapons, JASSM and JASSM-ER variants, are autonomous, long-range, highly survivable, conventional air-to ground, precision guided missiles. The weapons provide focused lethality to strike highly defended, high value targets.

"JASSM can neutralize [targets] while keeping our nation's combat aircrews safely outside the range of threats," said Kenneth Bandy, JASSM Director for Test and Integration.

The delivery of the first JASSM-ERs brings to fruition a greater capability to the warfighter, according to Bandy. The JASSM Program Office, located at Eglin Air Force Base, working in close coordination with contractor partner Lockheed Martin Missile Fire and Control, in Orlando Fla., jointly spearheaded the development, testing and fielding of this newest JASSM variant. After nine years of testing, fielding began this month.

With little change in design, the JASSM's newest accomplishment provides a weapon that can reach targets more than two and half times farther than its predecessor, while still hitting its target with accuracy. Seventy percent of the hardware and 90 percent of software are common between the two variants.

"The initial delivery of the extended range variant of JASSM gives the combatant commander the ability to reach far deeper into contested areas with lethal precision," said Maj. Gen. Scott Jansson, Air Force Program Executive Officer for Weapons.

Although the B1-B bomber is the only current U.S. Air Force aircraft employing the JASSM-ER, there are ongoing efforts to bring it to other aircraft, including the F-15E, F-16 and B-52.

"JASSM-ER delivers a revolutionary capability to the warfighter," said Bandy. "A capability resulting from close collaboration between the end item user, acquisition community, and our contractor team."