The Pentagon only has one program to upgrade its inventory of small, deadly missiles. Or it did, before impending budget cuts detonated it prematurely.
The next-gen Joint Air-to-Ground Munition, or JAGM, project aimed to put an advanced missile onto drones, manned planes and helicopters. But Inside Defense reports that the $8.3 billion missile modernization effort is on the chopping block, right before the Pentagon decides on a design for it. Lockheed Martin is competing with a Boeing-Raytheon team-up to design a replacement for small missiles like the TOW and the Hellfire.
The cost of the program is a concern in these days of financial austerity (which, in this case, means spending perhaps as little as $4 trillion over ten years, compared to the $5 trillion currently projected for defense over that time). Pressure to close the federal deficit is forcing the Pentagon to scale back its modernization wish lists. The missile upgrades might be a casualty: budget projections submitted by the Army and the Navy quietly but conspicuously left the JAGM off the planning sheets.
The forthcoming JAGM is beloved by the Army, the Navy and the Marines, who, all told, want to buy 35,000 of them ASAP. It’s a missile upgrade that’s been scheduled for over four years, although you could date its origins to the dormant 2005 Joint Common Missile program. Within the Pentagon, “many… believe [the missile] is critically important to the future force and a model of joint-service acquisition,”Inside Defense’s Jason Sherman reports.
Meanwhile, if there’s a problem with the Hellfire, no one’s letting on. Sure, it’s been in the Pentagon’s arsenal since the days of leg warmers, jheri curls and Red Dawn. But the iconic missile has been the last thing that militants in Pakistan and Yemen have seen during a dramatic escalation of the U.S.’ shadow wars in both countries under the Obama administration. There have been no indications in public of the missile’s poor performance.
But the JAGM is supposed to perform better. A trio of sensors are supposed to allow it to operate effectively in bad weather or against jamming signals designed to throw it off course. Some in the Pentagon evidently don’t think that can justify the expense of the upgrade.
Besides, the JAGM is about the same size as a Hellfire. Lockheed’s design weighs a shade over 100 lbs. That won’t help the Pentagon arm smaller drones — and with the rise of the kamikaze Switchblade drone-missile hybrid, maybe the JAGM looks like yesterday’s missile even before it ever gets fired in anger.
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