The Netherlands received authorization from the United States Department of State to purchase cruise missiles AGM-158 t Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles with Extended Range (JASSM-ER). Valued at US$908 million, the sale must still be approved by the US Congress.
According to Security and Defense Cooperation Agency (DSCA), the Netherlands requested the purchase of 120 missiles and related material, including training versions of the weapon, sensitive documentation, test instrumentation kits, spare parts, training and services and other items.
“This proposed sale will the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States.” e “the ability of the Netherlands to face current and future threats by increasing its air combat capability”, says the organization's note.
Although the DSCA does not provide details about the missile's integration, it is believed that the AGM-158 will be added to the range of weapons of the missiles. F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters, as the large fleet of F-16 jets is in the retirement phase. Some of these planes will even be donated to the Ukrainian Air Force.
Developed by Lockheed Martin for the US Armed Forces, the AGM-158 JASSM (t Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile) is a cruise missile with low observability (stealth) characteristics, in service with the USAF since 2009.
The weapon has a range of 370 km and has a warhead containing 450 kg of explosives, reinforced for penetrating targets such as reinforced hangars and bunkers. The JASSM-ER (Extended Range) variant entered service in 2014, has a range of 925 to 1000 km and is also the basis for the AGM-158C LRASM, a new long-range anti-ship missile for the US Navy, currently in development.
In addition to the JASSM-ER, the Netherlands was also authorized to purchase 386 AGM-114R2 Hellfire missiles for US$150 million. Originally developed as an anti-tank missile, the Hellfire evolved into a multipurpose weapon with several versions. The missile is already used by the Netherlands, mainly from AH-64 Apache attack helicopters.
