Weapons

US Army poised to begin JAGM full-rate production

The US Army is to begin full-rate production (FRP) of the Lockheed Martin Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM), with a pre-solicitation issued by the service on 9 April.

The notification issued by the US Army Contracting Command-Redstone (ACC-RSA) covers the acquisition of a maximum quantity of 3,000 (1,500 in fiscal year 2020 [FY 2020] and 1,500 in FY 2021) JAGM missiles in containers in support of the US Army, US Navy (USN), US Air Force, and "special customers", as well as trainer systems and support.

This will result in the award of two 12-month option periods of performance by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control to support the JAGM requirement. The ACC-RSA did not disclose when an FRP contract might be awarded, or what its value might be. Jane's has previously reported that an award is expected in 2019.

The JAGM is a tri-mode seeker (semi-active laser [SAL], imaging infrared [IIR/2IR]), and millimetre wave [MMW]) air-to-surface missile that is intended to replace the Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire, Raytheon AGM-65 Maverick, and Hughes BGM-71 TOW systems in the US inventory.