The US is betting on its newest cunning long-range hit weapon, which will significantly improve its arsenal of missiles and stand out from its near-peer rivals in terms of fast styles.
This month, The War Zone reported US defense contractor Lockheed Martin has unveiled the AGM-158 Extreme Range (XR ) Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile ( JASSM) variant at the Air Force Association’s Air, Space &, Cyber 2024 event near Washington, DC.
The XR version, designed to meet the evolving needs of warfighters, features a spread aircraft to provide more gas, a feature that extends its range to about 1, 600 kilometers, close to the Tomahawk missile.
The War Zone review notes that this improvement allows for modern integration and inline upgrades because of the modularity of the production lines. The report says the AGM-158 XR may have a 450-kilogram weapon and give a long-range, survivable hit ability against highly-defended targets, especially in the Pacific theater.
It mentions that the low-observable style and superior targeting systems increase its potency in deep fight environments.
Lockheed Martin targets a generation target of 1, 100 weapons per month, which could be used in several aircraft, including aircraft, soldiers and cargo planes. The XR variant, according to The War Zone, is anticipated to lower fuel requirements and speed up operations, giving the US government and its allies important advantages.
Testing of the AGM-158 XR is anticipated to commence in the coming years. The AGM-158 XR aims to address inadequacies in selection, endurance, and secrecy that legacy weapons like the Harpoon and Tomahawk then struggle to match against modern challenges.
Asia Times noted in April 2023 that the Harpoon, the US Navy’s major anti-ship weapon for many years, is obsolete, slow and fast countered by current weapon defenses because its assistance system lacks accuracy.
To help the weapon in locating targets in challenging coastal environments, the Harpoon Block II improve package addresses these shortcomings by including a new GPS device and trip control system. It even features a two-way datalink for mid-flight advertising and a possible infrared wanderer for all-weather features.
Still, the Harpoon might not have the necessary range and penetration capabilities for aircraft and warships to remain outside China’s anti-access/area-denial ( A2/AD ) zone.
The Harpoon’s major flaw is its limited access to appropriate launch platforms other than carrier-based ones, which may make it necessary for US Navy carriers to operate closer to the major battle area, putting these highly beneficial ships in danger. Its short range of 128 kilometers for standard versions and limited availability on compatible launch platforms.
Furthermore, its limited range and non-stealthy design may reduce its effectiveness against advanced adversaries in specific environments. Additionally, its active radar seeker and lack of stealth capabilities could aid in enemy ship defenses.
The Tomahawk is prone to increasingly advanced air defenses launched by US near-peer adversaries like China and Russia despite having a long range and a powerful warhead. However, its non-stealth design and subsonic speed make it vulnerable to these advances.
In the wake of China and Russia’s ongoing hypersonic weapons war, the US’s decision to develop a stealthy, subsonic anti-ship missile may indicate that the US has a completely different design philosophy when creating such advanced ship-killing munitions.
Fabian Hoffman and Douglas Barrie discuss the issue of speed and stealth in the design of anti-ship missiles in an article from the International Institute of Strategic Studies ( IISS) published in October 2021.
Hoffman and Barrie mention that while China and Russia favor high-speed missiles like the YJ-21 and Zircon, others, including the US and Europe, prioritize subsonic missiles with advanced maneuverability and low signatures.
In an April 2023 article for Air &, Space Forces Magazine, David Roza explains why the US took the latter approach in designing its next-generation anti-ship missiles. According to Rosa, the fast-paced nature of hypersonic weapons makes them more difficult to spot, such as plasma wakes and chemical reactions.
He mentions that these weapons leave distinctive light wavelengths and plumes that sophisticated sensors could track. Rosa also points out that the use of a wide range of sensors, including space-based sensors that can detect ultraviolet and hyperspectral light, makes use of hypersonic weapon’s unique weaknesses to improve missile defense capabilities.
In an April 2024 article for The Debrief, Micah Hanks points out that stealthy anti-ship missiles have a low radar cross-section and a low infrared signature, making it challenging for enemy defenses to detect and intercept them.
Hanks says semi-autonomous guidance systems reduce dependency on external intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms, ensuring effectiveness in intense electromagnetic warfare environments.
He adds that the capability to coordinate attacks through data sharing among multiple missiles provides swarm capabilities, allowing for coordinated, high-precision strikes.
The US may not be able to produce enough of these weapons in order to have a significant impact on potential regional conflicts in the Taiwan Strait or South China Sea, despite the advanced capabilities that might be present aboard the AGM-158 XR.
The US is facing numerous significant challenges in producing precision-guided munitions ( PGM ), with the production of JASSM missiles and Tomahawk Block Vs taking up to two years.
Further, due to workforce and supply chain constraints, the US defense industry struggles to increase production. Companies need stable contracts and clearer demand signals to invest in production, but the US Department of Defense’s ( DOD )’s ( DOD ) irregular orders only make things worse.
The US defense sector faces challenges because it relies on single-source sources for crucial components like rocket motors and missile energy. Additionally, there are vulnerabilities in the global supply chain, especially concerning the reliance on China for rare-earth metals.
Regulatory obstacles, including restrictive Foreign Military Sales ( FMS ) policies and International Traffic in Arms Regulations ( ITAR ), hinder the sale of arms to important allies, affecting the US defense industry’s capacity to increase production effectively.
And while coordinating the production of advanced weapons with allies can increase output, synchronizing their industrial capabilities with US military standards may pose challenges in synchronizing production and lead to potential operational delays.