The US State Department has approved a Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to Australia of up to 200 AGM-158C, Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASMs) and related equipment for an estimated cost of US$990 million.

The Commonwealth has requested to buy up to 200 AGM-158Cs and up to 11 ATM-158C LRASM Telemetry Variants (Inert). Also included are DATM-158C LRASM, Captive Air Training Missiles (CATM-158C LRASM), containers, support and test equipment, publications and technical documentation, personnel training and training equipment, US government and contractor representatives’ technical assistance, engineering and logistics support services, and other related elements of logistics support.

RAAF intends to use the missiles on its F-18 Super Hornet aircraft. The prime contractor is Lockheed Martin.

LRASMs are armed with a penetrator and blast fragmentation warhead. It employs precision routing and guidance to detect and destroy specific targets within a group of numerous ships at sea.