The Air Force plans to buy up to 11,200 copies of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile and its anti-ship variant over the next five to seven years, a dramatic increase in production for the critical long-range cruise missiles
The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s armament directorate announced the new total in a July 10 notice of contract action. The plans cover multiyear procurement for the next seven lots of JASSM and its cousin, the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile—an average of up to 1,600 missiles for each pair of lots.
By comparison, the service’s 2023 plan for its last multiyear procurement contract—covering five lots each—called for anywhere between 680 to 1,050 JASSMs and LRASMs per pair of lots. In its fiscal 2027 budget request, the Air Force said it wants to buy 977 of the missiles: 821 JASSMs and 156 LRASMs.
Lockheed Martin manufactures both missiles.
The JASSM is a cruise missile the Air Force and Navy use to strike heavily defended or high-value targets at standoff range, allowing them to be launched from aircraft from safer distances. The LRASM is an anti-ship missile derived from JASSM.
U.S. forces used JASSMs extensively to strike Iran during Operation Epic Fury. A May report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated that the Pentagon expended more than 1,100 JASSMs in 39 days of airstrikes.
Officials are eager to rebuild munitions stockpiles depleted by the conflict and from support sent to Ukraine—and go further in building up arsenals after years of inconsistent funding for weapons
To that end, the Pentagon is increasingly using multiyear procurement contracts to maximize weapons production. In 2024, the Air Force awarded Lockheed a $3.2 billion deal to build JASSMs and LRASMs through the end of July 2032. Defense officials say multiyear contracts help the government lock in prices and help vendors by providing a clearer picture of what their year-to-year demand signal will be, which allows them to make more strategic investments in things like supplies and facilities.
Deliveries on the new, expanded lots are expected to start about 27 months after the contract is awarded.
Pentagon budget documents released earlier this year indicated the Air Force had been planning to buy about 4,000 JASSMs and 716 LRASMs between fiscal 2027 and 2031.
The production increase will cover JASSM Lots 27 to 33, and LRASM Lots 13 to 19. The notice does not say how much the purchase is expected to cost, or how the purchase will be divided between the two types of missiles.
A Lockheed Martin spokesperson declined to comment on potential quantities of each missile under the deal, citing operational security concerns, and deferred other queries to the Air Force. An Air Force statement was not immediately available.
The Air Force also plans to buy missile containers, missile-to-aircraft interfaces, mission planning software, and missile maintenance software modules, and the contract will also cover factory maintenance and sustainment efforts.