Ukraine closing in on deal with U.S. for new advanced long-range missiles that could strike deep into Russia

09/04/2024 / By Arsenio Toledo

The U.S. and Ukraine are close to finalizing an agreement to provide Kyiv with long-range cruise missiles that could strike targets deep into Russia. The next military aid package to make its way to Ukraine could include AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSMs).

However, Ukraine would have to wait several months before the missiles begin making their way to Eastern Europe, as the Department of Defense works out technical issues ahead of any shipment. (Related: Russia launches over 200 drones and missiles targeting critical energy infrastructure in Ukraine.)

Officials said sending JASSMs to Ukraine could significantly alter the strategic landscape of the conflict by putting more Russian targets in range of Kyiv’s powerful, Western-supplied precision-guided munitions. White House officials noted that the appearance of JASSMs could even complicate Russia’s ability to sustain its offensive operations in the contested Donbas region of southeastern Ukraine.

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, former commander of U.S. Army Europe, applauded the sending of JASSMs. Hodges has been vocal about how Washington needs to provide Ukraine with more strategic long-range weaponry, but he laments the significant delays in their arrival to Eastern Europe.

“I’m glad that they’re considering it, but it highlights the utter failure to deliver these capabilities more than two years ago,” he said.

“What have we been waiting on? Why is the administration moving in slow motion, when it moves at all, to deliver the various capabilities to help Ukraine win the war, in time to have real effect?” added Hodges. “Our immovable self-deterrence due to excessive fear of Russian escalation is going to be a stain on U.S. credibility in Europe.”

JASSMs could hit targets hundreds of miles within Russia

Developed by Lockheed Martin, JASSMs are 2,400-pound, air-launched, stealthy long-range cruise missiles. They carry 1,000-pound warheads that, depending on the version of the JASSM, could travel between 330 to 575 miles.

As an air-launched missile that has only been integrated into U.S.-designed aircraft, Ukraine must fit JASSMs into one of the several dozen Western-supplied F-16s it operates. Each F-16 can carry up to two of these cruise missiles per sortie.

A U.S. official who spoke with Reuters noted that there were previous efforts to make the missile operable with non-U.S. fighter jets in the inventory of the Ukrainian Air Force, but there is no word on whether any of these efforts have progressed or were abandoned.

Launching JASSMs anywhere within Ukraine would put Kyiv in the range of striking up to 30 Russian airbases, some of which have been regularly used to launch attacks on Ukraine and some of which are located in Crimea, which Ukraine claims Russia has illegally occupied since 2015. A JASSM launched from northwestern Ukraine could even reach a Russian Air Force base in the exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea.

Military analysts further note that JASSMs represent more technologically advanced versions of cruise missiles already in Ukraine’s armory, notably the British Storm Shadows and the French SCALP-EGs.

JASSMs are believed to be more survivable and are more capable of reducing their signature to the point that they can wind their way through the most advanced and dense air defense networks they come up against. An AGM-158B version of the JASSM, one of the newest versions, costs about $1 million each.

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Watch this episode of “Alex in Cyprus” as host Alex Christoforou comments on the imminent transportation of JASSMs to Ukraine.

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