A 2,000-pound class weapon with a penetrator/blast fragmentation warhead, JASSM employs precision routing and guidance in adverse weather, day or night, using a state-of-the-art infrared.

The Pentagon announced on Sep. 10 that it has given Lockheed Martin $51 million contract to develop the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile Extreme Range (JASSM-XR).

Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, and is expected to be completed by Aug. 31, 2023.

JASSM is a long-range, conventional, air-to-ground, precision standoff missile for the U.S. and allied forces. Designed to destroy high-value, well-defended, fixed and relocatable targets, JASSM’s significant standoff range keeps aircrews well out of danger from hostile air defense systems.

A 2,000-pound class weapon with a penetrator/blast fragmentation warhead, JASSM employs precision routing and guidance in adverse weather, day or night, using a state-of-the-art infrared seeker in addition to the anti-jam GPS to find a specific aimpoint on the target. Its stealthy airframe makes it extremely difficult to defeat.

Using a more efficient engine and larger fuel volume in an airframe with the same external dimensions as the JASSM, the JASSM-ER features a range of over 575 miles (925 km) as compared to the JASSM’s range of about 230 miles (370 km).

Effective against high-value, well-fortified, fixed and relocatable targets, JASSM-ER is integrated on the F-15E and on the B-1B and currently in the process of integration on the F-16C/D and the internal bay and wings of the B-52H. JASSM is integrated on the USAF’s B-1B, B-2, B-52, F-16 and F-15E. Internationally, JASSM is carried on the F/A-18A/B, F-18C/D and F-16 Block 52 aircraft. Produced at the company’s manufacturing facility in Troy, Alabama, more than 2,150 JASSMs have been delivered.

This article by Dario Leone originally appeared on The Aviation Geek Club in 2018.

Image: Lockheed Martin