Lockheed Martin has received an $825.97-million modification from the US Air Force for production of the JASSM and LRASM missile families. The latest award lifts the overall value of the associated contract from $9.64 billion to $10.46 billion. Manufacturing and related work will take place in Orlando, Florida, and is expected to continue through July 31, 2030.Funding is being drawn from US fiscal-year 2024, 2025 and 2026 appropriations covering weapons procurement, R&D, operations and maintenance. A further $11.1 million comes from Foreign Military Sales funding.The contract arrives as Washington seeks to increase production of long-range strike weapons. Future procurement plans could cover up to 11,200 JASSM and LRASM missiles across several production lots over a five-to-seven-year period. If realized, the programme would average more than 1,000 missiles a year, compared with the FY2025 budget quantities of 450 JASSMs and 115 LRASMs.JASSM demand has increased sharply following its reported employment against Iranian targets. The JASSM-ER, capable of striking beyond 500 nautical miles, carries a 450-kg warhead and is designed to penetrate sophisticated air defences and destroy hardened targets. A CSIS assessment published April 21 said US forces employed more than 1,000 JASSMs, predominantly AGM-158B JASSM-ERs, during the campaign, making the missile the most extensively used US offensive weapon in that conflict according to the report.Bloomberg also reported that Washington moved JASSM-ER stocks from reserves earmarked for other regions, including the Pacific, toward US Central Command and Europe. The shift reportedly left approximately 425 missiles available for other theatres, compared with a pre-conflict stockpile of about 2,300.The LRASM, or AGM-158C, evolved from the JASSM-ER design and retains many common components, including the stealth-oriented airframe, F107 engine, aerodynamic surfaces, fuel system and portions of the avionics and manufacturing architecture. Both weapons carry a 992-pound penetrating blast-fragmentation warhead.Their guidance and mission systems differ according to role. JASSM combines GPS-aided inertial navigation with an imaging infrared seeker for fixed land targets. LRASM uses passive RF sensors, infrared sensing, a two-way datalink and autonomous target-selection functions to attack ships, including in environments where GPS is unavailable. While official confirmation of LRASM employment in the Iran operation has not been provided, the missile continues to have a major role in US Indo-Pacific strike planning. Its integration with the B-2 was demonstrated during Valiant Shield 2026 in a live-fire attack against a retired vessel.
