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.
Pentagon officials overseeing homeland counter-drone strategy told lawmakers that even with preliminary moves to bolster U.S. base defenses, the military still lacks the capability to comprehensively identify, track, and engage hostile drones like those that breached the airspace of Langley Air Force Base in Virginia for 17 days in December…