Yes JSM will not fit internally on F-35B. External only. I wouldn't worry about the Stealth aspect though. JSM has a range of 300 miles in a Hi-Hi-Lo profile, so can be launched well outside of any defences and realistically a stealthy missile hanging off a stealthy aircraft on a moderately stealthy pylon will not be picked up by a target radar at 100 miles even (thats the range for a Lo-Lo-Lo flight profile). The external carriage of JSM on F-35B being an issue is massively overstated in my opinion.NickC wrote:Just to clarify my understanding the JSM is too long to fit into the shorter F-35B weapons bay and will require external carriage degrading its stealth capabilities plus to be effective assume it will need Block 4 a/c with the upgraded AN/APG-81 radar capable of wide area surface search by 'big SAR' enabled by additional computing power, GPU's and upgraded software
It will only be available on Block IV upgraded aircraft anyway so the radar will have those modes by the time its cleared for service.
US and Norway. The Norwegians were smart, as part of their negotiations to join the F-35 programme they made the US agree that JSM would be integrated in the main integration effort and that the US would contribute to its integration. Smart move...Norway and Japan confirmed as customers, with (still not certain) the Australian's to come. Would expect the South Koreans to procure it as well. Apart from that I suspect the Danes will purchase some.Ron5 wrote:I'm curious as to who is the customer that would pay for this integration?