LRASM and JASSM Production to Triple Under New US Air Force Contract

The U.S. Air Force now anticipates buying more than 11,000 new JASSM and LRASM cruise missiles over the next five to seven years according to a notice of intent published Friday, dramatically expanding the Pentagon’s JASSM and LRASM topline inventory objectives for both weapons that have had their objectives periodically increased over the past decade. The move comes amid large-scale reconstitution in the wake of Operation Epic Fury, as well as major demand signals from the Pentagon to push suppliers towards internal investments to support higher production rates of key weapons needed for a potential conflict in the Pacific. The planned procurement would span JASSM Lots 27–33 and LRASM Lots 13–19, covering up to 11,200 missiles in multiple variants over the next five to seven years. The expansion would also increase sustainment capacity, missile repair infrastructure, software support, and production at Lockheed Martin’s two existing manufacturing facilities, with deliveries expected to begin 27 months after contract award. The contract covers all current and future variants of the LRASM and JASSM, including the new LRASM-ER and JASSM-XR — two new variants of the shared missile family that add some of Lockheed Martin’s newest anti-spoofing and survivability equipment. The LRASM-ER also includes a series of sensor upgrades that Lockheed Martin considers “the key to the future growth of [LRASM]”, according to a Lockheed Martin spokesperson who provided comments to Naval News during the Sea Air Space Symposium in April. Air Force officials acknowledged that expanding production to support the larger procurement will require substantial upfront investment and an extended manufacturing ramp-up. The notice also says government-owned production equipment remains committed to Lockheed Martin’s existing JASSM and LRASM contracts in the interim, supporting the company’s initiative to begin investing heavily into its supply chains and current production lines to meet new production demands. Lockheed Martin has already met that demand with heavy investments across its supply chain and major manufacturing centers. Lockheed Martin’s JASSM family has centered itself as the Pentagon’s major strike system for large-scale combat operations. Pentagon planners continue to construct long-range acquisition forecasts around a notional major regional conflict in the Pacific, with both JASSM and LRASM in the forefront of nearly every major simulated conflict. The planned buy in the U.S. Air Force notice far exceeds publicly disclosed inventory objectives across both missile families, reflecting the Pentagon’s objective of scaling up production of its most critical weapons to wartime-adjacent levels.