Airmen with the Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Command Test Center (AATC) load a JASSM on a pre-block F-16 for a test launch. (U.S. Air Force Photo By Senior Master Sgt. Charles Givens)
The United States is studying the possibility of sending Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) to Ukraine, Politico reported on August 16.
The long-range cruise missiles could be launched from the Ukrainian Air Force (UAF) new American-made F-16 fighter jets and would allow Kiev to strike “targets over 230 miles [370 kilometers] away,” boosting Ukraine’s military capabilities against Russia, according to the news outlet.
Politico noted that discussions are ongoing within the White House and Pentagon to address the complexities of the transfer, including ensuring the compatibility of the missiles with Ukraine’s fighter jets.
“The Pentagon is already working with Ukraine on those technical issues, two of the people said,” according to the report.
The potential delivery would mark another step in the U.S. evolving support policy for Ukraine, as the missiles “has been shared with only a handful of close allies,” it said.
Politico also reported that Ukrainian officials have been pressing for the JASSM, arguing it is essential to counter Russian air attacks.
“The U.S. and allies have already committed to sending Ukraine a variety of air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions for its F-16s, but the JASSM deliveries would give Kyiv the most powerful and longest-range weapon in its air force’s arsenal,” the report said.
The UAF received the first batch of F-16s just last month. At least ten such fighter jets were reportedly delivered to the country.
The JASSM, which has a stealthy design, is guided by a GPS-aided inertial navigation system. For target recognition and terminal homing, the missile is equipped with an imaging infrared seeker. In addition, a data link allows the missile to transmit its location and status during flight, allowing improved bomb damage assessment.
Politico’s report was clearly talking about the baseline version of the missile which has a range of 370 kilometers. A more advanced extended range version of the missile dubbed the JASSM-ER can engage targets 926 kilometers away.
While the JASSM is without a doubt very capable, the Russian military is already familiar with it. The baseline version of the missile was first used during the 14 April 2018 missile strikes against Syria. According to Russian media, two missiles that failed to detonate were found by the Syrian military and later transferred to Russia for study.
Regardless of how effective the JASSM will be, supplying the missile to Ukraine will be a serious escalation by the U.S. as it will allow the UAF to attack civilian infrastructure deep in Russian territory, like the Crimean Bridge. This will likely provoke a serious reaction from Russia, who warned in the past that it could arm Washington’s foes.
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o alta jucarie scumpa de 2 mil de dolari bucata
are buk ul ce da jos
nato has crossed all red lines imposed by the kreml. now i demand that the kreml strikes back without mercy
where are the f16s hidden by the nazis? it’s better to take them out on the ground than when they are in the air!
they are stationed in romania. which they can not attack without a retaliation of all of nato. they fly to ukraine. dip down on a ukrainian airfield fly their mission and theny fly back to romania.
i have 16 chinese lego in my nursing home
they can give even a missile that flies to the moon, it really does not matter because every f16 will explode and burn before taking off. they can be destroyed today also when sleeper cells are activated!
i’d suggest moving out of moscow before it gets “hot”…heheheh
if and when that happens j** boy there won’t be anything left of neighborhood or you… or me… keep laughing!!
as the article states, russia has had examples of the jassm for study since 2018; everything from the sa300 and newer can deal with it. as for getting hot i suggest you avoid norfolk and san francisco from november 6th on…….
bring your lead based 100.000 block sunscreen!…
the main problem today is that nato and zio shills and their tame presstitute media actually believe their own bs.
this is the only one not retarded stupid thing among the countless that you’ve ever posted on this site. indeed for the next few years it’s better get out of big target cities.
lets hope the russian federation has a fitting response that will be unlike any others before it. sure hope they are not stupid enough to put a living breathing pilot inside the cockpit and like everything else they’ve done because of the ukie/nato casualties will be forced to make drones out of these 3rd generation fighter antiques!
as long russia can handle all what the west is doing russia will not easy attack other countries. now russia can still concentrate on ukraine. when russia attacks a nato country, also it would be very understanding, but than the attacks on russia cancome from all directions. in that case we will get a nuclear war.
i honestly can’t begin to understand russia’s restraint after the rape theft and murder the past 10 years that has included epic destruction that includes government facilities, multi-rouble pipelines inside russia, murder of russian civilians through acts of terrorism -most recently crocus hall, freezing and theft of financial assets in foreign western banks…
and still russia plays their game by remaining a loyal compliant subject in the un prison cell that jeopardizes the safety and welfare of it’s diplomatic community abroad and western foreign service acting as “terrorists” inside russia…. why???
bad idea, what the ukes need are f16s equipt to defend their airspace, not weapons that will only provoke major punitive counterattacks. the us, nato, and ukes are so f ing stupid.
f-16’s, the bait for s-400/500’s, they won’t be flying for long.
all inferior amerikan weapons fail–pathetic homer simpson humiliated by taliban
right, against a nuclear armed russia and they have hypersonic missiles galore. these turds are getting eaten in the donbas; as the fight to take more territory.
kedy asi tak rus dodá niečo poriadne husiom? potopenie takej lietadlovej lode usa by bola udalosť storočia. čakám kdeby rusovi dôjde konečne trpezlivosť. tak ako usa a eu dodávajú zbrane ukrajincom, tak by mali rusi dodávať zbrane husiom. reciprocita!!! svetu mier!!!
time to take odessa, cut them off
no attempt at peace ,ehh?
when first appeared jassm was presented as revolutionary, but by tech specs it’s only evolutionary. it bypasses radar… and so ? also , doesn’t transmittion of status reveal it’s location , negating “stealthyness”? what “stealth” anyway? it’s a hollywood bs. even small aircraft radars see these “stealth” gimmics.
those missiles sent by trump to syria among which were the captured jassm were sent there for that purpose – so the russians could see inside how they work. not a joke.