NexFuture (July 16, 2026) — In the high-stakes realm of modern aerial warfare, the fundamental design philosophy of a fifth-generation stealth fighter presents a glaring paradox: the moment you hang a heavy munition under its wings, you effectively broadcast its location to enemy radar, negating the very invisibility you spent billions to achieve. For the U.S. Air Force’s F-35 Lightning II, this internal-carriage requirement has long represented a critical vulnerability, severely limiting the aircraft's ability to strike heavily defended naval vessels or hardened land targets from safe standoff distances.
 |
| Photo by Christopher Okula |
Now, to bridge this tactical gap, the Pentagon is once again opening its checkbook to an indispensable European ally. The Air Force has officially awarded Norwegian defense contractor Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace a $98.4 million contract to produce the latest batch of Joint Strike Missiles (JSM), a bespoke weapon designed specifically to solve the F-35’s payload dilemma.
With production taking place at Kongsberg’s state-of-the-art facilities in Norway and scheduled for completion by June 2030, this latest procurement solidifies a unique transatlantic reliance that keeps America's premier stealth fighter both lethal and undetected.
Known formally by its American military designation, the AGM-184A, the Joint Strike Missile is a masterclass in compromise-driven engineering. For years, the F-35 fleet operated without a true long-range maritime or land-strike weapon simply because heavy hitters like the U.S.-made AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) are physically too large to fit inside the aircraft's internal weapons bays.
Kongsberg, leveraging the architecture of its highly successful Naval Strike Missile, engineered the JSM from the ground up to squeeze precisely into those confined dimensions. Measuring roughly 13 feet in length and weighing just under 900 pounds—including a highly destructive 260-pound warhead—every contour of the missile was dictated by the F-35's internal geometry rather than pure aerodynamic performance.
Yet, despite these strict physical constraints, the weapon boasts formidable capabilities. Once deployed from the aircraft's belly, the JSM can autonomously cruise for more than 217 miles at high subsonic speeds. It utilizes a sophisticated blend of GPS and inertial navigation to travel over open ocean or contested terrain, flying low, evasive, sea-skimming trajectories to avoid early radar detection.
In the terminal phase of its flight, the missile activates an advanced imaging infrared (IIR) seeker, allowing it to visually identify its specific target, ignore electronic warfare decoys, and pinpoint the most vulnerable section of an enemy hull in its closing seconds.
This combination of standoff range and stealth-compatible carriage allows F-35 pilots to launch devastating strikes from well outside the engagement rings of modern ship-based air defense systems. The strategic value of this capability is reflected in the Pentagon's accelerating procurement schedule.
This new $98.4 million award, funded by fiscal 2025 missile procurement budgets and managed by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Florida's Eglin Air Force Base, covers Lot Three B of the program. Structured as a firm-fixed-price modification, the contract places the financial burden of any potential production overruns squarely on Kongsberg rather than the American taxpayer. It builds upon a rapidly expanding foundation that began with an initial U.S. order in 2024 and was followed by a massive $240.9 million Lot Two contract in June 2026.
While the United States is aggressively building its stockpile to meet the demands of the Indo-Pacific and beyond, the JSM is fundamentally a Norwegian triumph. Norway not only originated the technology but was the first to operationalize it, equipping its full fleet of 52 F-35As with the weapon by April 2025.
This milestone proved that a smaller NATO ally could successfully architect top-tier aerospace technology, and that head start has triggered a massive wave of global export success. Japan and Australia quickly signed on, followed by Germany, which committed to the JSM in 2026 for its own incoming F-35 fleet.
Adding to this momentum, Kongsberg recently secured a staggering $472 million order in June 2026 from an undisclosed sixth customer, highlighting the skyrocketing international demand for stealth-compatible strike capabilities in an increasingly volatile geopolitical landscape.
Ultimately, until the U.S. defense industrial base can field a domestically produced alternative with the same level of proven maturity, the Joint Strike Missile remains the only weapon of its kind capable of fitting inside the F-35. Every new order placed by the Air Force is a calculated bet that outsourcing this critical anti-ship and land-strike capability to a trusted Nordic partner is the most effective way to ensure the world’s most advanced fighter remains a silent, deadly threat.
Tyler A. Nguyen (via Defence Blog)
Community Insights