The Finnish government agreed on the purchase of JASSM-ER cruise missiles with a range of up to 1000 km for its F-35 fighters.

This was reported by the Logistics Department of the Finnish Defense Forces.

On May 31, 2024, the country’s Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen authorized the Logistics Department to conduct additional purchases of JASSM-ER extended range missiles.

The agreement would also include the supply of equipment to keep JASSM-ER combat-ready, spare parts, technical and logistical support. As well as other related logistics elements and consumables.

The number of missiles ordered and the timing of their delivery are unknown. It is reported that the weapons would arrive “taking into account the schedule for the adoption of F-35A fighters,” the first of which should arrive in 2026.

However, in addition to future fifth generation fighters, another carrier of long-range cruise missiles in the Finnish Air Force should become the F/A-18 Hornet.

“Long Arm” of Finnish aviation

AGM-158 JASSM is a modern air-launched cruise missile developed by the American company Lockheed Martin. Its modified version of the extended range was called the JASSM-ER.

Designed for launch from fighters, JASSM-ER will be the longest-range weapon for Finland, which will be able to hit targets within a radius of 980 kilometers. Thanks to them, such cities as Minsk and even Moscow find themselves in the operational zone of the Finnish Air Force.

The cruise missile received a complex diversified flight control and guidance system, based on an autonomous inertial system, GPS satellite network and TERCOM – a system that performs flight adjustment based on terrain. All this provides significant protection against obstacles posed by enemy EW systems.

At the terminal stage of the flight, when entering the strike zone, the missile can aim at the coordinates or infrared homing, which searches for the target and checks it with the standard embedded in the on-board computer. Due to this, the declared possible deviation does not exceed 3 meters.

On board the cruise missile carries a penetrating warhead WDU-42/B weighing 450 kg. The warhead body is made of tungsten alloy and equipped with 109 kilograms of AFX-757 explosives.

As previously reported, in March this year, a large batch of high-precision SDB-I bombs and JDAM guidance kit were also ordered by the Finnish Air Force.