Lethal Capabilities of JASSM-ER Missiles: Countering North Korea’s Aggressive Posturing – Part 2

U.S. equips B-2 bomber with JASSM

Recently, the stealth air-to-ground cruise missile JASSM has been gaining prominence. This is due to the fierce military competition between the U.S. and China for dominance in the western Pacific.

As China significantly increases the number of navy vessels such as aircraft carriers and Aegis destroyers under its Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2AD) strategy to block the U.S. Navy’s mainland approach, the U.S. is stepping up efforts to equip B-2 stealth bombers with stealth long-range cruise missiles that can sink the Chinese Navy from outside the Chinese military’s air defense network.

According to U.S. military specialist media Defense Blog and others, U.S. defense company Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Air Force are working on integrating the JASSM-ER to enhance the attack capabilities of the B-2 Spirit bomber. In a test conducted in December 2021, they publicly announced the successful launch of the JASSM-ER by the B-2.

Defense Blog assessed that integrating the JASSM-ER enhances the B-2’s ability to strike targets wherever they are. It enables a powerful missile drop that flies a longer distance than previous weapons and is less detectable. The B-2 Spirit bomber, which is not easily detected by radar, can carry 16 JASSM-ER stealth cruise missiles, and the B-1 bomber can carry 24 JASSM-ERs.

The basic model JASSM is a 2000-pound class weapon with a penetrating blast-fragmentation warhead. It is equipped with an infrared seeker and a GPS jamming countermeasure, allowing it to operate day and night in all weather conditions. The stealth-designed body shape makes it difficult for enemy radar to detect. The JASSM is 4.27m long, 63.5cm in diameter, has a wingspan of 2.4m when unfolded, and weighs a total of 975kg. The warhead weighs 450kg and has a range of 370km. The warhead weight is the same as the JASSM-ER.

The JASSM uses the engine of the Harpoon anti-ship missile (Teledyne turbojet engine), and the JASSM-ER is known to use the engine of the Tomahawk cruise missile (Williams International’s turbofan engine).

Despite being a long-range missile, its accuracy is very high. The Circular Error Probable (CEP) is reported to be 3~2.4m. For this reason, the two air-to-ground cruise missiles are considered “sharp spears” that could strike North Korea’s critical ground facilities outside the range of ground-to-air missile interceptors, North Korea’s densely built “shield net” in an emergency. It is also evaluated that it can be used as a spear to penetrate the Chinese military’s Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2AD) “shield.”

Due to such power, the number of U.S. Air Force platforms operating the JASSM-ER is increasing. The U.S. Air Force operates it on the B-1B Lancer bomber, B-52 bomber, F-15 Eagle, and F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters, and the Navy operates it on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. The B-1B can carry up to 24 JASSMs and JASSM-Rs, the B-2 can carry 16, and the B-52 can carry 12.

To read Part 1…
To read Part 3…