The success of Lockheed Martin’s Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) technology has earned it a $172 million contract from the U.S. Navy and Air Force to continue production of the air-launched variant of the LRASM, including a full production run of missiles and engineering support. These next-generation defense systems provide true long-range anti-ship capabilities to both branches of the armed forces as a result of this follow-on contract.
“LRASM brings a game-changing capability to both the U.S. Air Force and the Navy,” said David Helsel, LRASM director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “This second production lot will provide anti-ship missiles for both the B-1B and F/A-18E/F, bringing sea control back to our Warfighters.”
These LRASM systems detect and destroy specific targets within groups of ships by combining the latest detection and surveillance technologies with advanced electronic warfare (EW) strategies, reconnaissance, and even GPS satellite-based location and guidance data to sort through groups of candidate sea-going vessels, even when detected from considerable distances. The anti-ship missiles employed in the system are based on Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range (JASSM-ER) technology and have been developed to provide the Navy and Air Force with the means of targeting specific vessels in contested environments.
