U.S. Adds $826M to Expand JASSM Cruise Missile and LRASM Anti-Ship Missile Output amid Indo-Pacific Demand.

The Pentagon added $825.98 million to Lockheed Martin’s JASSM and LRASM large-lot procurement contract, raising its cumulative value from $9.65 billion to $10.48 billion and extending work through July 2030. The expansion ties land-attack and anti-ship missile demand to a shared production base, increasing pressure on industrial capacity as the United States builds long-range strike inventories for high-intensity operations and allied requirements.

The procurement framework covers successive JASSM and LRASM lots while drawing on Air Force and Navy weapons funding, research and development accounts, operations and maintenance appropriations, and Foreign Military Sales. With JASSM-ER offering a range beyond 500 nautical miles and LRASM providing a low-observable semi-autonomous anti-ship capability, production throughput and supplier capacity are becoming central constraints on future U.S. and partner strike inventories.

Related News: U.S. Awards $53.1 Million to Lockheed Martin to Expand LRASM Long Range Anti-Ship Missile Production

JASSM missiles await loading onto a B-1B Lancer during Exercise Death Strike 25-03 at Dyess Air Force Base in September 2025 (Picture source: US DoD)

The new tranche comes as the United States seeks to increase the depth of its long-range munition inventories for high-intensity operations, particularly in the Indo-Pacific. JASSM primarily addresses stand-off land-attack requirements, while LRASM is intended for anti-ship operations against vessels operating under layered air and naval defenses. Their integration within the same industrial structure places production capacity at the center of the issue, beyond the individual performance of each missile.

According to a U.S. Department of Defense contract announcement published on September 9, 2026, the modification was awarded by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Eglin Air Force Base. It draws on several budget lines rather than a single missile procurement account. Funding includes U.S. Air Force missile procurement appropriations for fiscal years 2024 through 2026, Navy weapons procurement funds, fiscal 2026 research, development, test and evaluation funding, operations and maintenance appropriations, and $11.07 million in Foreign Military Sales funding. A contract action in July 2025 already covered JASSM Lots 22 through 26 and LRASM Lots 9 through 12, linking several years of demand to the same large-lot procurement structure.

The AGM-158 family is based on a low-observable air-launched cruise missile architecture designed to penetrate defended airspace without requiring the launch aircraft to enter the densest surface-to-air missile engagement zones. The AGM-158B JASSM-ER extends engagement range beyond 500 nautical miles, or more than 900 kilometers. Navigation combines inertial guidance and GPS during the cruise phase with an infrared seeker for terminal guidance, while retaining the ability to operate when GPS signals are degraded. JASSM is integrated on several U.S. platforms, including the B-1B, B-2, B-52, F-15E and F-16, allowing long-range land-attack missions to be distributed across bomber and fighter fleets.

LRASM adapts the same missile lineage to the anti-ship mission. The AGM-158C is designed to proceed semi-autonomously toward a maritime target area, reducing its dependence on continuous intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support, external data links or GPS in a heavily contested electromagnetic environment. Its survivability relies on low observability, route planning and autonomous guidance rather than speed alone. This combination is intended to complicate naval air-defense engagement while giving U.S. forces a long-range option against major surface combatants and other maritime targets.

The main issue, however, emerges before either missile reaches its launch platform. Lockheed Martin has stated for several years that JASSM and LRASM share common components and production infrastructure. The company brought an advanced manufacturing facility of nearly 21,000 square meters into service in 2022, incorporating robotic painting, automated processes, and industrial forecasting tools. The Large Lot Procurement approach also allows earlier acquisition of long-lead components and generates efficiencies across several years of production. Acquisition documents released in July 2026 also indicated an increase in planned future quantities for the two missile families, from 16,710 to 23,095 weapons across follow-on lots. The scale is changing. The requirement is no longer limited to gradually replenishing inventories, but increasingly involves production throughput, supplier resilience, and overall stock depth.

Long-range strike campaigns consume missiles in salvos rather than isolated engagements. In an Indo-Pacific scenario, JASSM can be employed against air-defense sites, command facilities, logistics infrastructure and other fixed or relocatable targets, while LRASM is primarily intended to engage ships operating behind successive defensive layers. In both cases, stand-off range allows launch aircraft to remain farther from heavily contested areas, helping preserve available bomber and fighter sorties. The shared industrial base also creates a constraint. Higher demand for anti-ship missiles competes directly with land-attack requirements for factory capacity, propulsion components, electronics and final assembly resources. The operational value of stand-off range therefore increasingly depends on whether the industrial base can replace expended weapons at a useful rate.

Washington is seeking to expand the inventories required for a high-intensity Indo-Pacific contingency while continuing to meet European and allied requirements. Previous phases of the same Large Lot contract already included Foreign Military Sales for Poland, the Netherlands, Japan and Finland, and the latest modification again includes FMS funding. Production capacity is therefore becoming part of the deterrence equation. The United States must generate enough missiles to support its own operational planning without turning allied demand into direct competition for production and delivery slots. For international security, the issue is no longer only whether long-range precision weapons are available, but whether the industrial base can manufacture them in quantities consistent with the requirements of a major conflict before inventory levels become the limiting factor.

Written By Erwan Halna du Fretay - Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Erwan Halna du Fretay holds a Master’s degree in International Relations and has experience studying conflicts and global arms transfers. His research interests lie in Security and strategic studies, particularly the dynamics of the defense industry, the evolution of military technologies, and the strategic transformation of armed forces.