US State Dept. clears UK’s $1B purchase of Joint Air-to-Ground Missile

WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department has approved a potential $957.4 million sale of Joint Air-to-Ground Missiles to the United Kingdom, according to a Defense Security Cooperation Agency announcement.

The U.K. intends to buy 3,000 Lockheed Martin-developed JAGMs — or AGM-197A missiles — the announcement states. It notes Congress must now approve the sale.

The U.S. Army and the Marine Corps in August 2022 declared JAGM ready for full-rate production. The services had delayed the missile’s fielding by more than a year after the weapon previously failed to achieve desired lethal effects on a maritime target.

JAGM will replace Lockheed-made Hellfire missiles aboard American aircraft and will first be fielded on AH-64E Apache attack helicopters and Marine Corps AH-1Z Viper helicopters.

While the Army and the Marine Corps are the first adopters of the capability, the U.K. in 2021 signed on to purchase JAGM. In the last year, Poland and the Netherlands have both announced plans to buy JAGM.

Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin has been working on upgrading JAGM. The company announced in December 2022 it had conducted a flight test of a version with double the range, traveling 16 kilometers at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California.

The company also incorporated a tri-mode seeker that pairs a low-cost imaging sensor with the seeker’s semi-active laser and millimeter wave sensors. The U.S. Army originally required the JAGM weapon to have a tri-mode seeker , but returned to a dual-mode seeker requirement when the price was too high. Since then, tri-mode seeker technology has become more affordable.

Lockheed also said in summer 2022 it was evaluating how JAGM could be configured for mobile, short-range air defense launched from ground platforms.

Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.

华盛顿——据美国国防安全合作局宣布，美国国务院已批准向英国出售价值 9.574 亿美元的联合空对地导弹。

公告称，英国计划购买3000枚洛克希德·马丁公司研制的JAGM导弹（或称AGM-197A导弹）。公告还指出，这笔军售目前尚需国会批准。

2022年8月，美国陆军和海军陆战队宣布JAGM导弹已准备好全面投产。此前，由于该导弹未能对海上目标造成预期的杀伤效果，两军已将其部署推迟了一年多。

JAGM 将取代美国飞机上洛克希德制造的地狱火导弹，并将首先部署在 AH-64E 阿帕奇攻击直升机和海军陆战队 AH-1Z 蝰蛇直升机上。

虽然美国陆军和海军陆战队率先采用了这项技术，但英国在2021年也签署了采购JAGM导弹的协议。去年，波兰和荷兰也都宣布了采购JAGM导弹的计划。

与此同时，洛克希德·马丁公司一直在致力于升级JAGM导弹。该公司于2022年12月宣布，已在加利福尼亚州中国湖海军航空武器站对射程翻倍的改进型导弹进行了飞行测试，飞行距离达16公里。

该公司还采用了一种三模导引头，它将低成本成像传感器与导引头的半主动激光和毫米波传感器相结合。美国陆军最初要求JAGM武器配备三模导引头，但由于价格过高，后来又改为双模导引头。此后，三模导引头技术变得更加经济实惠。

洛克希德公司在 2022 年夏季还表示，正在评估如何将 JAGM 配置为可从地面平台发射的移动式短程防空导弹。

珍·贾德森是一位屡获殊荣的记者，为《防务新闻》报道陆地战争。她也曾为《政治报》和《内幕防务》工作。她拥有波士顿大学新闻学硕士学位和凯尼恩学院文学学士学位。