Navy AH-1Z Test Flies New Joint Air Ground Missile

The Navy tested new targeting technology on the Joint Air Ground Missile during a first flight test on an AH-1Z helicopter last month at Naval Air Station Patuxent River Md.

“During the flight, aircrew aboard the AH-1Z navigated the missile through various operational modes and exercised its active seeker to search and/or acquire targets, demonstrating its compatibility with the aircraft,” a NAVAIR statement said.

Liam Cosgrove, JAGM flight test lead, said the flight test will pave the way toward live fire tests in coming months, a report from the US Navy said.

The Army-led JAGM missile was originally designed with a tri-mode seeker using millimeter wave, IR and laser guidance technology.

While a senior Army weapons developer said its current technical configuration is not available for discussion for security reasons, he did say the new JAGM seeker was extremely advanced.

“JAGM will have the same back end as HELLFIRE and same production line,” Brig. Gen. Robert Rasch, Deputy Program Executive Officer, Missiles and Space, told Warrior Maven in an interview.

According to Army statements, the adverse-weather-capable JAGM System will enable warfighters to attack critical, high-value, fixed and moving, and fleeting targets day or night in battlefield limited visibility conditions from significant standoff ranges while remaining fully effective against a variety of countermeasures.

Army Revs up HELLFIRE Production