F-35C flies with AGM-158C LRASM

The F-35 Integrated Test Force at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, has begun flight testing in support of certifying the F-35C to carry the AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM). The Pax River ITF’s mission is to effectively plan, coordinate, and conduct safe, secure, and efficient flight test for the Department of the Navy’s F-35B and C variants, and provide necessary and timely data to support program verification / certification and fleet operational requirements.

Too large to be carried internally, the LRASM (and even its empty pylons) will impose a significant RCS penalty, and is a defined near-term solution for the Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (OASuW) air-launch capability gap, pending the availability of the internally-carried Joint Strike Missile. Both weapons will provide flexible, long-range, advanced, anti-surface capability against high-threat maritime targets.

Flight testing began on 10 September, and the team flew two days of missions to evaluate flutter, loads, and flying qualities with two AGM-158s loaded on external stations.

With a quoted range of 200 nautical miles, the LRASM gives the F-35 a useful stand-off anti-ship capability. Integration of the longer range JASSM-ER or AGM-158XR would give a quantum improvement in stand-off land attack range.

Because LRASM is based on JASSM-ER, and shares the same airframe and ‘outer mould line’, there may be significant read-across for any subsequent integration of the AGM-158B/D JASSM-ER on the F-35C for land attack (LRASM has no land attack capabilities) and indeed for other F-35 variants.