Australia Completes F/A-18F Strike Pair: JASSM-ER Joins LRASM at 900 km Range
The Royal Australian Air Force has declared Initial Operational Capability for the AGM-158B JASSM-ER on its F/A-18F Super Hornet fleet, adding a land-attack weapon with a range of up to 900 kilometers alongside the AGM-158C LRASM anti-ship missile, which exceeds 370 kilometers and had already entered service on the same aircraft.
According to Army Recognition’s September 12, 2026 report, JASSM-ER’s operational status follows a firing campaign at the Woomera Test Range in South Australia in November 2025, where two missiles were successfully launched. LRASM had reached operational status earlier, after two missiles were fired off the California coast at the Point Mugu Sea Range in February 2025 with U.S. Navy support — a milestone Aviation Week first reported in March 2025.
Together, the two weapons give the RAAF’s Super Hornet fleet long-range strike options against both maritime and land targets from a single platform. That combination places Australia among a small group of allied air forces able to hold two distinct target sets at comparable stand-off ranges with one fighter type.
The program’s platform flexibility was further tested during RIMPAC 2026, when an Australian P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft successfully fired an LRASM — confirming the missile’s integration extends beyond the fighter fleet into patrol and surveillance aircraft.
The acquisition figures behind the declaration are notable in their own right. Washington approved a foreign military sale of up to 200 LRASMs worth $990 million in February 2020, and 80 JASSM-ER missiles worth $235 million in July 2022. On the Australian side, the 2024 guided weapons plan allocated A$895.5 million for LRASM and A$575 million for JASSM-ER.
Production capacity at Lockheed Martin underpins these deliveries. The company expanded output under a $750.6 million JASSM Lot 21 contract signed in May 2023, which included the missiles earmarked for Australia. Both weapons share a common airframe: JASSM-ER is the extended-range, land-attack variant of the baseline JASSM, while LRASM adds a passive/active radar seeker and autonomous targeting software to the same body for the anti-ship mission.
The milestone also fits a broader pattern of long-range strike investment across the Indo-Pacific. Japan and South Korea have pursued land- and sea-attack systems in a similar range class in recent years, and Washington’s decision to extend the JASSM-ER/LRASM family to regional partners is turning the pair into a reference point for allied arsenals outside NATO. Türkiye’s own SOM missile family follows a comparable logic, offering separate land-attack and anti-ship variants at stand-off range — evidence that this kind of strike capability is no longer the preserve of a handful of major powers.
The next step in the program is completing LRASM’s integration with the F-35 family. Lockheed Martin announced the missile’s first flight test aboard an F-35B in March 2025; once that work concludes, Australia’s future F-35A fleet could gain the same reach. For now, the RAAF’s priority is sustaining full operational readiness for JASSM-ER and LRASM on the Super Hornet fleet and extending integration to additional platforms such as the P-8A.
Sources
- Army Recognition, “Australia declares U.S. long-range JASSM-ER and LRASM missiles operational on F/A-18F fighter jets,” September 12, 2026 — used for the Woomera firing campaign, procurement volumes, and contract values. (https://www.armyrecognition.com/news/aerospace-news/2026/australia-declares-u-s-long-range-jassm-er-and-lrasm-missiles-operational-on-fa-18f-fighter-jets)
- Aviation Week, “Australia Declares LRASM Operational To Boost Long-Range Strike,” Robert Wall, March 21, 2025 — used for the Point Mugu test campaign and LRASM’s earlier operational declaration. (https://aviationweek.com/defense/missile-defense-weapons/australia-declares-lrasm-operational-boost-long-range-strike)
- Lockheed Martin, corporate news feature, “LRASM Speeds Up 21st Century Security Solutions” — used for platform integration and production contract details. (https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/news/features/2023/lrasm-speeds-up-21st-century-security-solutions.html)
