Germany to order Joint Strike Missile for F-35As
Germany is to join four other F-35A operators in fielding the Norwegian JSM stand-off missile. (Norwegian MoD)
Germany is to order the Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA) Joint Strike Missile (JSM) to equip its fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) combat aircraft.
The Norwegian Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced the development on 5 June, saying Germany is to become the fifth country to acquire the missile for its F-35As after Australia, Japan, Norway, and the United States.
âGermany is a highly important European partner in defence materiel co-operation, and a major and valued ally in NATO. Our already close collaboration on missile systems becomes even more significant as both German and Norwegian F-35 fighter jets will be equipped with Kongsberg's Joint Strike Missile,â Minister of Defence Tore O Sandvik was quoted by the ministry as saying.
With the German Bundestag approving the acquisition on 4 June, a contract is expected to be signed in the first half of 2025.
As noted by Janes Weapons: Air Launched , the JSM is a Norwegian-developed precisionâguided standâoff missile, optimised for use by aircraft against both naval and land targets. The low-observable weapon provides antiâship attack capability to combat aircraft by using imaging infrared (IIR) guidance and a 120 kg impact or time delay warhead.
Designed for internal and external carriage aboard the conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) F-35A and the carrier variant (CV) F-35C (it is too large for the internal weapons bays of the short take-off and vertical landing [STOVL] F-35B), the JSM has an estimated speed of Mach 0.9 and a range in excess of 275 km.
For more information on the JSM, please see Norway receives first Joint Strike Missile for F-35As .
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