What You Need to Know: The U.S. Navy has unveiled the F-35C Lightning II stealth fighter jet 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 being integrated with the F-35C.

-Developed by DARPA to counter near-peer threats like China and Russia, this stealth munition enhances the Navy's ability to tackle large naval forces.

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

The F-35 Fighter Can Now Fire the LRASM Missile - Stealth Munition 

The U.S. Navy is getting ready for a war with China and it just revealed one of its most powerful weapons should it go to blows.

This week, the Navy released a photograph of an F-35C Lightning II stealth fighter jet packing an AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM).

Designed to sink enemy ships from great distances, the AGM-158C LRASM is the Navy’s answer to China’s increasingly larger naval force.

AGM-158C LRASM Revealed

During the summer, the AGM-158C LRASM made an appearance with a Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet in a sinking exercise, or SINKEX. The fighter jet shot the stealth munition 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 B-1 Lancer strategic bomber. But now the stealth munition will operate alongside the stealth aircraft.

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

“An F-35 Lightning II test pilot conducts flight test Sept. 10 to certify the carrier variant of the fighter aircraft for carrying the AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM),” the Navy caption reads.  

The AGM-158C LRSAM was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as an air-launch stealth anti-ship missile to counter emerging near-peer threats. The Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps are all interested in the development of the munition for potential use against Chinese and Russian targets. Beijing could muster over 600 ships in the event of a conflict, and the Navy would have a hard time dealing with all these targets.

“As part of ongoing integration efforts, the Pax River F-35Integrated Test Force (Pax ITF) team flew two days of test flights to evaluate flutter, loads, and flying qualities with two AGM-158 loaded on external stations,” the Navy caption 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-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM).

“LRASM is a defined near-term solution for the Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (OASuW) air-launch capability gap that will provide flexible, long-range, advanced, anti-surface capability against high-threat maritime targets. The Pax River ITF’s mission is to effectively plan, coordinate, and conduct safe, secure, and efficient flight test for F-35B and C variants, and provide necessary and timely data to support program verification/ certification and fleet operational requirements,” the Navy caption concludes.

The F-35C Lightning II Stealth Fighter Jet

The F-35 is the most advanced stealth fighter jet out there. The Navy uses the “C” version of the aircraft that sports a more robust landing gear and reinforced structure so that the aircraft can sustain the immense powers of 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 only operators of that version of the stealth fighter jet in the world.

About the Author: 

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

Image Credit: Creative Commons.