The U.S. Deploys Stealth Cruise Missiles to the Middle East Battlefield

Reference News Network reported on April 7 According to a report by Bloomberg News on April 5, the United States will next utilize a large stock of Extended Range Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM-ER) in its military operations against Iran, reallocating this stealth cruise missile from inventories designated for other regions.

According to an informed source, the order to reallocate this $1.5 million weapon from the Pacific region's inventory was issued at the end of March. The source indicated that the missiles being transferred from the U.S. mainland and other regions will be moved to bases under the U.S. Central Command or to RAF Fairford in the UK.

After implementing these measures, only 425 of the 2,300 JASSM-ER missiles in the U.S. inventory before the war will remain available for other regions worldwide. This number is roughly enough for 17 B-1B bombers to conduct a single mission. Additionally, 75 missiles are unusable due to damage or technical failures.

The JASSM-ER can fly over 600 miles (1 mile is approximately 1.6 kilometers) and is designed to strike targets from a safer distance to avoid enemy air defense systems.

The informed source stated that, combined with the shorter-range baseline JASSM (with a range of about 250 miles), approximately two-thirds of the U.S. inventory has been used in the Iran war.

Since the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran on February 28, there has been controversy over the supply of missile interceptors and long-range strike weapons. At current production levels, replenishing the consumed weapons will take years.

The U.S. has been using a large number of long-range weapons like the JASSM-ER to conduct strikes. This reduces the risk to U.S. personnel but also diminishes the inventory originally intended for other more capable adversaries.

The U.S. and Israel have stated that they have destroyed most of Iran's air defense systems, allowing them to use cheaper weapons to strike Iranian targets. However, on the 3rd, a U.S. F-15E fighter jet was shot down. Shortly thereafter, an A-10 attack aircraft was downed, and two search-and-rescue helicopters were also hit by Iranian fire.

The informed source indicated that the U.S. consumed over 1,000 JASSM-ER missiles in the first four weeks of the war. The source noted that during operations against Venezuela earlier this year, U.S. aircraft launched 47 JASSM-ER missiles.

Since 2009, the U.S. has allocated funds to procure over 6,200 JASSM series missiles, while the baseline JASSM for U.S. use has been out of production for about a decade.

Lockheed Martin plans to produce 396 JASSM-ER missiles in 2026. If the production line—which also manufactures long-range anti-ship missiles—were fully dedicated to JASSM-ER, it could produce 860 missiles.

Deploying such a large number of JASSM-ER in the Iran war does not mean they will all be used. So far, these missiles have been launched from B-52 and B-1B bombers as well as attack fighters.

On March 31, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Cain stated that the U.S. has begun flying B-52 bombers over Iran, which means that using cheaper and more abundant Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) over Iran is now safer than before.

Kelly Grieco, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, said that the older, slower B-52 bombers are only now flying over Iran, which "raises questions about whether the U.S. continues to rely on standoff strike capabilities." (Translated by Feng Xue)