Russia Worried JASSM Missile Will Hit Its Military Bases, Arms Factories

Russia is worried that inclusion of the AGM-158A Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) in an upcoming arms aid package to Ukraine will put a number of its air and military bases besides arms factories within the range of the 370 km missile.

Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev voiced in the local media the need to form a "sanitary cordon to the territory of Poland" in response to the provision of the Ukrainian Air Force with AGM-158A JASSM stealth tactical long-range missiles.

While Medvedev did not provide additional explanation, the missile is expected to be launched by Ukrainian aircraft operating from the territory of Poland and the sanitary cordon could mean a number of air defense systems placed along the border with Poland.

“The JASSM can be a critical threat to dozens of enterprises of military-industrial complex in the European part of Russia” the Russian Weapons Telegram channels said suggesting the blocking of all logistical loopholes for supplying the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the western regions of Ukraine,” as a way of throttling the usage of the feared missile.

The JASSM missile has a low radar signature while makes it detection in flight difficult by Russian S-350 air defense systems.  It has IR sensors for selecting and identifying the IR signature of target objects against the background of the underlying surface, and also have inertial navigation units, radar altimeters and GPS correction modules which makes it particularly potent weapon in the hands of the Ukrainians.

The JASSM delivery to Ukraine could be several months away as the United States is still to conclude an agreement with Kyiv which will specify the conditions of its usage, Reuters reported on Monday. Ukraine wants the JASSM for its F-16 Fighting Falcons besides Soviet era aircraft such as the MiG-29 and Su-27.