The U.S. Army has awarded an engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) contract for the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) to Lockheed Martin, as expected. The company will receive $66 million to do the EMD over the next two years, so that initial operating capability can be achieved in 2018. The JAGM will be deployed on various U.S. Army, Navy and Marine Corps platforms, including AH-1 and AH-64 helicopters and the MQ-1C Gray Eagle UAV. 

Two weeks before the award, Lockheed Martin demonstrated the dual-mode SAL and MMW seeker for the JAGM in flight tests. The design “provides the warfighter with precision strike and fire-and-forget capabilities against moving targets in all weather conditions,” claimed Frank St John, v-p for tactical missiles/combat maneuver systems at Lockheed Martin. The new guidance section is mated to an AGM-114R Hellfire missile body to provide a modular, low-risk design, according to the company.

The Army originally sought to evaluate a tri-mode seeker as well for JAGM, which prompted a proposal from a Raytheon-Boeing team. This enhancement was later dropped for budgetary reasons, and Lockheed Martin was the sole bidder for the EMD contract.