Posted on 09/19/2014 12:43:09 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
The Pentagon is asking Congress to approve a $500 million foreign military sale to deliver Lockheed Martin Corp. missiles for Poland’s fleet of F-16 fighters.
Poland is asking for 40 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles, which are designed to cruise autonomously using an infrared seeker and anti-jam GPS to find and destroy targets, keeping aircrews well out of danger from air defense systems. Also part of the contract would be upgrades to the F-16 aircraft for JASSM integration and support.
Poland continues to be an important force for political stability and economic progress in Central Europe, and the sale would improve Poland’s capability to meet current and future threats of enemy air and ground weapons systems, according to the Pentagon announcement about the proposed sale.
Poland will use the enhanced capability as a deterrent to regional threats and to strengthen its homeland defense.
Jill R. Aitoro cov
$12.5 million per shot assuming I am reading $500 MM for 40 missiles. The JSM is a multirole version of the Norweigan Naval Strike Missile.
I have a dumb question: How will the Poles evade Russian interceptors?
Also part of the contract would be upgrades to the F-16 aircraft for JASSM integration and support...
It’s a standoff weapon (200 miles) and Janes was reporting that Poland could even be sold the JASSM-ER (500 miles or so). So, they could technically fire it without leaving Polish airspace. But, the missile’s main utility is as deterrent against Russia.
The JSM Is a totally different weapon, weighing about half as much as the JASSM and without the penetrator capability.
A two seater?
The “ET” on the plane’s tail denotes “Eglin Test”. I have no idea if that is why it has two people tho.
Evade? They’ll seek them out to exterminate them. The Poles are some of the toughest fighters in Europe.
Trainer variant, probably also used for such test launches.
The AGM-158 JASSM (Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile) is a low observable standoff cruise missile developed in the United States. It is a large, semi-stealthy long-range weapon of the 2,000 pounds (910 kg) class.
As of 2014, the JASSM has entered foreign service in Australia and Finland, with Poland expressing interest in potential acquisitions. An extended range version of the missile, the AGM-158B JASSM-ER (Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range), entered service in 2014.
Not sure where they took the 40 missiles from. I heard about ~200 missiles, with the price ~2 million each + modifications of airplanes that could indeed cost around USD 500 million. For only 40 missiles the whole deal would not make much sense.
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