The Australian Department of Defence (DoD) is to buy an unspecified number of the Lockheed Martin AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), the country's defense minister, Linda Reynolds, confirmed on July 2. A Foreign Military Sales deal to sell 200 LRASMs to Australia was approved by the U.S. State Department in February. In Australian service, the LRASM will initially arm the Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet, but will subsequently be integrated to other platforms.
The Boeing P-8A Poseidon and Lockheed Martin F-35A are likely candidates.
LRASM is based on the AGM-158B JASSM-ER air-to-ground cruise missile but incorporates a radar seeker and other sensors to attack ships. Transiting at medium altitude before flying a sea-skimming terminal approach, the LRASM has a range of at least 200nm (370km), considerably greater than the current AGM-84 Harpoon it will supplant and providing the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) with the ability to command large areas of ocean...MORE
