ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Air Force has approved full rate production for Lockheed Martin's (NYSE: LMT) Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile – Extended Range (JASSM-ER).

JASSM-ER successfully completed U.S. Air Force Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) flight testing in 2013. During IOT&E, the program had a 95 percent success rate, scoring 20 successes in 21 flights. Lots 11 and 12 of the JASSM contract awarded in December 2013 included 100 ER missiles.

"The full rate production decision demonstrates that our customer, at all levels of the U.S. Air Force, has confidence in JASSM-ER," said Jason Denney, long-range strike systems program director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "JASSM-ER provides warfighters with a first day, first strike capability in an anti-access, area-denial environment."

Armed with a dual-mode penetrator and blast-fragmentation warhead, JASSM and JASSM-ER cruise autonomously day or night in all weather conditions. Both missiles share the same powerful capabilities and stealthy characteristics, though JASSM-ER has more than two-and-a-half times the range of the baseline JASSM for greater standoff margin. These 2,000-pound cruise missiles employ an infrared seeker and Global Positioning System receiver to dial into specific target aimpoints.

JASSM and JASSM-ER are critical weapons for the U.S. Air Force. Extremely effective against high-value, well-fortified, fixed and relocatable targets, the stealthy JASSM-ER is integrated on the U.S. Air Force's B-1B. JASSM is integrated on the U.S. Air Force's B-1, B-2, B-52, F-16, F-15E, and internationally, on the Royal Australian Air Force's F/A-18A/B.

Produced at the company's award-winning manufacturing facility in Troy, Alabama, more than 1,500 JASSM cruise missiles have been assembled for testing and operational use toward a total U.S. Air Force objective of 4,900.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 113,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation's net sales for 2013 were $45.4 billion.

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SOURCE Lockheed Martin