Two sources of the country's defense facilities told “Globe” as Israel's Ministry of Defense is undergoing high consultation with the US administration to procure joint air-to-air stand-off missiles (JASSMs) from defense and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin. Each cruise missile by the Air & Space Force magazine costs around $1.5 million.
The Jassm Cruise missile is a stealth weapon with a 450 kilogram (1,000 pounds) armor-piercing warhead that avoids radar and intercept. This is a major advantage for Israel's Ministry of Defense. However, in general, cruise missiles are slower than ballistic missiles due to maneuverability. The missile guidance system that identifies and tracks targets based on thermal radiation and its range, and fires them from hundreds of kilometers away, thereby reducing the risk to crew members.
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The base version of the missile, ranging from approximately 370km, served the US Air Force in 2009, about eight years after mass production began. Meanwhile, the latest version of Jassm-er ranges around 930km, and the Pentagon itself is accelerating the pace of armament as part of its preparations in the Pacific region for China.
The 2025 US Defense Budget allocated funds to purchase 550 missiles for this model. This is higher than the total purchases of ER missiles over the past five years. Last March, a contract worth $122.6 million was signed. In June 2022, Lockheed Martin opened another plant to increase production capacity.
Jassm missiles have become a sought after asset among US allies, but procurement is limited to a small number of countries. Australia, which raised about 80 units of models for around $255 million about three years ago, is Lockheed Martin's major overseas customer. In March 2024, the US Department of State approved a potential sale of the AGM-158B-2 version to Poland.
CNN reported that US European commander General Christopher Kabli approached Congress last September with a list of US weapons that would serve Ukrainian forces against Russia, including Jasum. Washington did not approve this despite Ukraine using cruise missiles such as the shadows of the British storm.
An article published in March in the Democracy Foundation (FDD), a US research institute that deals with foreign policy and national security, discusses the possibility of selling missiles to Israel in an article titled “The United States needs Israel to have Jassm-ers.”
The three authors, Ryan Blobst, Bradley Bowman and rear Admiral (ret.) Mark Montgomery, said Israel had already demonstrated its ability to attack Iran's territory in April and October 2024, but warned that Iran's air defense systems are recovering and improving along with systems like the Baval 373 and the Coodad 15.
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Due to the large-scale strikes of the future, Israel argues that Israel will need a larger “toolbox” of precision weapons, especially with limited stockpiles of ballistic missiles such as rampages, rocks and aerolas. They said, “A deeper, more diverse missile magazine could allow Israel to attack more targets from stand-off ranges, reducing the number of aircraft needed to enter Iranian airspace.
Soft Target
The missiles are primarily integrated into advanced platforms such as B-2 stealth bombers and F-18s, and were first used by the Israeli Air Force against the world's first revolutionary security target in 2018. That same year, US fighters launched 19 Jassm missiles as part of their campaign against ISIS in Syria.
In short, Jassm-er missiles are unable to destroy strengthened, deeply buried targets, such as Iranian nuclear sites, including Fordow and Natanz facilities.
However, as the Foundation for Democracy Defence wrote, Israel was able to launch Jassm-er from fighter jets operating outside of Iran, attacking soft (unburied deep) targets in most parts of the country. Targets include command, control, communications, air defense, and radar sites. It will help other aircraft clear the pathway for carrying out subsequent repeated attacks on Iran's nuclear sites. Jassm-er can also be used to attack other targets related to Iran's nuclear programmes, such as weaponization activities, ballistic missile storage sites, and sites related to production facilities.
There have been no responses from the Israeli Ministry of Defense and Lockheed Martin.
Published by Globes, Israel Business News – En.globes.co.il – May 4, 2025.
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