Lockheed Martin on Tuesday announced the delivery of the 2,000th Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) to the Air Force. The missile was a baseline JASSM and originated from the 12th production lot, which began in January 2016 and included 150 baseline JASSMs and 60 JASSM-Extended Range missiles. The delivery comes months after Lockheed was awarded a new $116.8 million contract to produce 100 JASSM-ER missiles by June 2019. JASSMs are integrated on a variety of USAF aircraft, including the B-1B, B-2, B-52, F-16 and F-15E; the B-1B also carries the extended-range variant. Internationally, the JASSM is integrated into the F/A-18A/B and the F-18C/D aircraft.
Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael J. Schmidt took command of the F-35 Joint Program Office on July 5, succeeding Air Force Lt. Gen. Eric Fick, who is retiring. The succession of an Air Force PEO by another—breaking more than 25 years of back-and-forth joint leadership—may signal that the JPO is…