The F-35 fighter can now fire a “stealth munition”: discover the LRASM

What you need to know: The US Navy has unveiled the F-35C Lightning II stealth fighter carrying the AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), a powerful weapon designed to sink enemy ships from great distances. The AGM-158C, previously operational with the F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet, is now integrated into the F-35C.

-Developed by DARPA to counter near-peer threats from China and Russia, this stealth munition improves the Navy’s ability to take on large naval forces.

-The F-35C, specially modified for aircraft carrier operations, provides the U.S. military with an advanced platform to dominate future maritime conflicts.

The F-35 fighter can now fire the LRASM missile – Stealth Munition

The US Navy is preparing for war with China and has just revealed one of its most powerful weapons in the event of an attack.

This week, the Navy released a photograph of an F-35C Lightning II stealth fighter jet equipped with an AGM-158C long-range anti-ship missile (LRASM).

Designed to sink enemy ships at great range, the AGM-158C LRASM is the Navy’s response to China’s growing naval force.

AGM-158C LRASM revealed

Over the summer, the AGM-158C LRASM made an appearance with a Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet during a sinking exercise, or SINKEX. The fighter jet fired stealth munitions against decommissioned Navy ships to assess its destructive capability and overall performance.

Until now, the AGM-158 LRSAM was operational with the F/A-18 Hornet and F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets and the B-1 Lancer strategic bomber. But now, stealth munitions will work alongside stealth aircraft.

On Tuesday, the Navy released a series of images showing F-35 jets in action during an exercise. One of the photos showed the F-35C version of the stealth fighter jet carrying a long-range stealth missile.

“An F-35 Lightning II test pilot conducts a flight test Sept. 10 to certify the carrier variant of the fighter jet to carry the AGM-158C long-range anti-ship missile (LRASM),” May – we read in the legend of the Navy.

The AGM-158C LRSAM was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a stealthy air-launched anti-ship missile to counter emerging near-peer threats. The Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps are all interested in developing the munition for use against Chinese and Russian targets. Beijing could mobilize more than 600 ships in the event of a conflict, and the Navy would have difficulty handling all these targets.

“As part of ongoing integration efforts, the Pax River F-35Integrated Test Force (Pax ITF) team conducted two days of test flights to evaluate flutter, loads and flight qualities with two AGMs -158 loaded on external stations,” captions the Navy. continues.

The AGM-158C LRASM is a stealth munition designed to bypass adversary detection systems. It is a derivative of the AGM-158 joint air-to-ground missile (JASSM).

“LRASM is a defined near-term solution to address the offensive anti-surface warfare (OASuW) air-launched capability gap, which will provide a flexible, long-range, advanced anti-surface capability against high-threat maritime targets . The mission of the Pax River ITF is to effectively plan, coordinate and conduct safe, secure and efficient flight testing for the F-35B and C variants, and to provide necessary and timely data to support verification/certification of the program and operational requirements of the fleet,” the Navy said. concludes the legend.

The F-35C Lightning II stealth fighter jet

The F-35 is the most advanced stealth fighter jet on the market. The Navy uses the “C” version of the aircraft, which has a more robust landing gear and a reinforced structure so that the aircraft can withstand the immense powers of aircraft carrier operations. The Navy has ordered 273 F-35Cs and, alongside the Marine Corps, which has ordered 67 F-35Cs to operate from Navy aircraft carriers, they are the sole operators of this version of the fighter jet stealth in the world.

About the author:

Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations and a veteran of the Hellenic Army (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ). He holds a BA from Johns Hopkins University and an MS from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins. His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx and SOFREP.

Image credit: Creative Commons.