The extended-range variant of the stealthy Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile completed operational testing and has been cleared to enter full-rate production, announced builder Lockheed Martin on Monday. “The full-rate production decision demonstrates that our customer, at all levels of the US Air Force, has confidence in JASSM-ER,” said Jason Denney, the company’s long-range strike systems director. The weapon successfully struck 20 out of 21 targets, scoring a 95 percent hit rate, in operational test and evaluation that wrapped up last year, according to the company. JASSM-ER boasts two-and a half times the range of the standard JASSM, providing “warfighters with a first-day, first-strike capability in an anti-access, area-denial environment,” said Denney. It is cleared for use on the B-1B, while the baseline JASSM has been integrated with the B-1B, B-2A, B-52H, F-16 and F-15E. The Air Force earlier this year tasked Lockheed Martin to build 100 extended-range JASSMs during JASSM production lots 11 and 12, which also include orders for the baseline variant.
Pakistan's kill chain of Chinese-origin weapons was likely a bigger factor in shooting down an Indian fighter than the jets' relative strengths, an expert said.