The Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a $302 million production contract for the production of AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM), including foreign military sales to Finland and Poland, according to a Dec. 3 contract announcement. “JASSM gives our allies a powerful, vital, and affordable cruise missile capability,” company missile vice president Joe Garland said in a release, announcing the sale to Poland earlier this year. Poland became JASSM’s third foreign military sales customer, joining Australia and Finland in September. The missile will give Poland’s F-16 fleet “operational flexibility, reliability, and mission effectiveness to meet their national defense requirements,” added Garland. Production Lot 14 includes a total of 215 JASSM Extended Range variants, according to the government’s original solicitation. The award closely follows the Lot 13 production award back in October, which included 140 JASSM and 140 JASSM-ER missiles.
House and Senate lawmakers say they’re hopeful Congress will pass a defense appropriations bill in the coming weeks to avoid a repeat of last fall’s government shutdown, with only having a handful of working days remaining before the Jan. 30 deadline. Yet legislations still have to release a compromise version of defense spending legislation, which will have to…
