The United States is expected to deploy nearly its entire stockpile of JASSM-ER stealth cruise missiles in the next phase of the campaign against Iran, Bloomberg reports.
The order to remove the weapons, each of which is worth $1.5 million, from stockpiles in the Pacific was given at the end of March, the network reported, citing an official directly familiar with the matter. Missiles stored at US facilities elsewhere, including in the continental US, will be transferred to US Central Command bases or to Fairford in Britain, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive details.
After the fighting, only about 425 JASSM-ER missiles out of a prewar stockpile of 2,300 will remain available for the rest of the world. That would be enough for about 17 B-1B bombers on a single mission. Another roughly 75 are "unserviceable" because of damage or technical malfunctions.
The JASSM-ER, or Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range, can fly more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) and was designed to strike targets from safer distances in order to avoid enemy air defense systems. In addition to the shorter-range JASSM, which has a range of about 400 miles, about two-thirds of the US weapons stockpile has been committed to the war with Iran, the source said.
If the details are indeed accurate, this would represent a significant erosion of US global warfighting capabilities at a time when China is preparing to invade Taiwan and the war in Europe is far from over.
