Article Posted on : - Apr 14, 2010

Lockheed Martin's Joint Air-To-Ground Missile.

ORLANDO (BNS): Lockheed Martin-designed Joint Air-To-Ground Missile (JAGM) has successfully completed a series of flight tests, validating its tri-mode seeker’s capability to detect and defeat the desired targets.

The missile underwent a series of static, tower-based and captive-carry flight tests during which its seeker was tested against both active and passive countermeasure systems.

The three seeker modes of the JAGM system – the semi-active laser, the imaging infrared and the millimeter wave radar – were put to test in a “limited dirty battlefield/countermeasure rich environment” at Redstone Arsenal, Albama.

Test results demonstrated all three sensor modes successfully communicated and worked collaboratively to effectively address and defeat each countermeasure and obscurant, Lockheed said.

Earlier, the system was put to test in clean, non-dirty-battlefield flight environments, in both favourable and adverse weather conditions.

The JAGM programme has been designed to develop an air-to-surface missile that will replace the AGM-114 Hellfire II missiles, the Maverick missiles and the BGM-71 TOW missiles presently used the US Army, Navy and Marine Corps.

The new missile system will be deployed in the rotary-wing, fixed-wing and unmanned platforms of the army, navy and marine corps.

The US Army, Navy and Marine Corps are expected to procure around 35,000 JAGM systems.