JASSM/ No Ma’am – Which Will It Be?

JASSM with F-16(click to view full) The US Defense Budget has gone to “reconciliation,” during which the US Congress and Senate attempt to take the different defense budgets passed in each body, and reconcile them into one official document for the President to sign. The Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) is left in limbo during this time, either to be cut almost entirely with a recommendation for termination, or to face a $50 million trim from its $150 million program request. What would be lost if the program were canceled? And why do members of the House and Senate want the program cut or reined in? Lockheed Martin’s AGM-158 JASSM is intended to be an inexpensive powered cruise missile, as opposed to the unpowered but similar-looking AGM-154 JSOW glide bomb. Whereas JSOWs have a 15-40 nautical mile range, JASSM would deliver its 1,000-lb. warhead about 200 nautical miles from the launch aircraft using GPS/INS guidance and an infrared terminal seeker. This capability would be a significant help against heavily defended targets, as a JASSM is both cheaper and stealthier than a B-52 bomber or even an F-16. It’s also cheaper than other missile alternatives, the AGM-68C/D CALCM air-launched Tomahawk and […]