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[global times special correspondent chen shan] reuters revealed on the 3rd that us officials said the us is close to reaching an agreement with ukraine to provide ukraine with the joint air-to-surface standoff missile (jassm) with a range deep into russian territory. this stealth cruise missile is also one of the most powerful long-range weapons currently available to the us. however, the us "power" website expressed concerns on the 3rd, believing that it may affect the us military's most important war preparations for "great power competition."

can strike targets behind russian lines

the report said that sources said that the united states is expected to announce the inclusion of jassm missiles in its military aid plan for ukraine this fall, but no final decision has been made yet. u.s. officials believe that providing jassm missiles to ukraine could significantly change the strategic landscape of the conflict because it would put more russian areas within the range of ukrainian precision-guided weapons.

the us air force's f-16 fighter jet is equipped with a jassm missile. (source: us "power" website)

according to reports, the jassm missile was developed by lockheed martin and is a new generation of air-launched cruise missiles for the us military. the early model has a range of about 370 kilometers, and the later extended-range model has a range of about 900 kilometers. it is used to accurately strike high-value targets with strict defenses from a long distance outside the opponent's air defense zone. its biggest feature is that it is highly stealthy and intelligent, and can autonomously plan its flight trajectory to avoid the opponent's air defense interception. the us military claims that the missile has a longer range than most similar missiles currently available in ukraine, and may force russia to push back its military assembly areas and supply stations by hundreds of kilometers. this will seriously weaken russia's ability to maintain offensive operations and may provide ukraine with a strategic advantage. if this missile is launched from a location near the northern border between ukraine and russia, it can strike military facilities as far away as voronezh and bryansk in russia; if this missile is launched near the southern front, it can strike russian military targets in crimea.

future supply 'unrestricted'

the u.s. website "dynamics" described that ukraine's possession of the jassm missile means that russia needs to deal with an advanced air-launched standoff weapon, "which has an almost unlimited supply and can break through russia's most powerful defense system. this will be a big problem for russia." the report mentioned that the jassm missile not only has a long range, but is also equipped with advanced guidance devices and powerful warheads, posing a serious threat to key targets in crimea and important targets such as the main russian military assembly areas, ammunition storage sites, command facilities, and training centers behind the russian-ukrainian front. if necessary, the missile can also be used to strike "more time-sensitive targets." compared with the long-range drones currently used by ukraine to attack deep targets in russia, the jassm missile is much more destructive. the u.s. media believes that "the u.s. government has not yet allowed ukraine to use advanced standoff weapons to attack russian targets. even less advanced weapons such as the army tactical missile launched by the 'himars' rocket launcher are only approved for counterattacks across the border." if the u.s. government approves the provision of jassm missiles to ukraine, it means that the u.s. attitude on related issues has changed.

more importantly, this will also greatly increase the air strike pressure faced by the russian army. at present, the ukrainian air force mainly uses the "storm shadow"/"scalp-eg" air-launched cruise missiles provided by the united kingdom and france as the main means of long-range precision strikes. these two missiles can only be launched by the su-24 fighter-bombers currently in service with the ukrainian air force. "although britain and france generously provided these weapons, their supply is limited. for example, the united kingdom has only produced a total of hundreds of such missiles before." even so, these two cruise missiles have been successful many times in air strikes on the russian black sea fleet base, the crimean bridge and other missions.

in contrast, the jassm missile is not only more advanced in performance, but the united states has been producing and improving it. a pentagon report shows that the pentagon has previously purchased more than 2,000 early jassm missiles. if its extended-range and derivative models are included, the us military plans to equip more than 12,000 missiles of this series. this also means that the ukrainian air force will theoretically have sufficient reserves of long-range precision ammunition.

may affect the u.s. military’s own combat readiness

however, the "open" provision of this advanced missile to ukraine has also caused concern in the us media. the "power" website mentioned that in the future sino-us conflict envisioned by the pentagon and us think tanks, jassm is "an absolutely critical standoff strike weapon." for example, the us air force once boasted that as long as 5 b-1b bombers mounted 180 lrasm missiles (an improved anti-ship version of jassm) to attack the chinese aircraft carrier formation, "even if the chinese fleet successfully shot down 95% of the missiles, the remaining 9 missiles could turn the aircraft carrier into a burning wreck." however, a research report by the mitchell institute for aerospace studies, a us air force think tank, shows that if a high-intensity conflict breaks out between the united states and china and russia, the us military's inventory of about 6,500 jassm series long-range missiles, including the more advanced agm-158b "extended range joint air-to-surface standoff missile" (jassm-er) and agm-158c "long-range anti-ship missile" (lrasm), "will be exhausted in 8.5 days at most." the "power" website is therefore worried that if the us military provides too many jassm missiles to ukraine, it will seriously affect the us military's combat readiness plan.

in addition, the u.s. military is also worried that when using jassm missiles to strike targets in russia, missile debris or even intact missiles will inevitably fall into the hands of the russian army, and russia will have the opportunity to carefully study the performance and characteristics of this main cruise missile of the u.s. military. the u.s. media is worried that once the performance of the missile is understood by the opponent, it will undermine the u.s. military's preparations for using the missile to deal with "great power competition."