US Military Soon To Get AGM-179 Joint Air-to-Ground Missile as Replacement for Outdated AGM Hellfire

A new armament called AGM-179 Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) is a distinct upgrade for AGM Hellfire which is currently in service. Compared to it, the PLA has developed an equivalent or better missile, and the army is confident the Chinese are way behind.

US Military Gets Better Missile for Weapon Platforms

Last August 30, the US army approved Lockheed Martin for the JAGM for full production, reported Business Insider.

This new weapon system could appear more like its precedents, but the JAGM develops upon the Hellfire's low-cost, high-accuracy heritage by jamming numerous targeting systems into one weapon, noted Sandboxx.

The designers got a single missile doing the job of the current Hellfire AGM used by the US and allies.

Legendary Hellfire: Romeo and Longbow

The Hellfire-guided munition was born during the 1970s from the challenging need for a powerful anti-weapon for American helicopters such as the latest AH-64 Apache, states Boeing.

The name of the main AGM, "Hellfire," implies Heliborne, Laser, Fire, and Forget Missile. Because of its utility, it was incorporated on numerous different platforms, which become America's go-to AGM for allied forces, too. A necessity for a munition for any kind of aircraft includes helicopters, planes, and ships, in addition to bolting on stationary launchers to strike aerial targets.

Ordnance Adaptations

The astounding accuracy of such weapons has already led to the creation of the R9X. This Hellfire projectile switches out its incendiary warhead for just a group of six deployable 18-inch blades intended to take out highly ambitious targets while leaving no bystanders uninjured.

This weapon, nevertheless, is used infrequently by intelligence and special operations agencies but doesn't appear to be making its way into conventional warfare, but the AGM-179 JAGM is better.

The main family of Hellfire missiles would include the Romeo Hellfire II, widely known as the Hellfire Romeo, and the Longbow Hellfire.

Several components, such as warheads, are common to these two missiles. Nevertheless, whenever it comes to attacking, they vary markedly, pressuring users to maintain completely separate stockpiles of each. The JAGM will perform the functions of the two variants.

System Differences

The Romeo is more closely tied to its predecessors, leveraging a highly-accurate Semi-Active Laser (SAL)-guidance system to deliver 20 pounds of explosives to targets more than 6 miles away.

Mounted as the main air-to-surface projective for the Apache, Super Cobra, and later used for the Reaper UAV drone. Equipped with the AGM-114L Longbow is the capability to attack long distances and places where laser spotting is nearly impossible, like bad weather or thick smoke, per The Defense Post.

The Romeo is the ordinary use AGM for the army and marines, while the Longbow is what is mounted on the tank-killing AH-64 Apache. But the Longbow is not available since 2005.

JAGM is a combination of Romeo and Longbow sensors for a single missile with dual utility capabilities. Previously, pilots or other operators had to decide how and where to engage a target using two Hellfire missiles mounted on their platforms. Shifting targeting modes to seeing the target or using the radar guidance to launch an attack is double trouble when facing the AGM-179 Joint Air-to-Ground Missile.