The U.S. Department of State has approved a possible sale of JAGM guided missiles to the UK for nearly a billion dollars.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced this decision on October 23.
It regards the supply of up to three thousand AGM-179A Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) class “air-to-ground” missiles.
The estimated total cost of a potential order is $957.4 million.
Potential sales, in addition to the supply of combat missiles, include the transfer and layouts of missiles, technical assistance from the American side, documentation, integration support, and other related logistics and software support elements.
It is noted that the supply of missiles will support the foreign policy and national security purposes of the United States by improving the security of NATO, which is a force for political stability and economic progress in Europe.
The proposed sale of AGM-179A (JAGM) will improve the UK’s ability to face current and future security threats.
The AGM-179A guided missile should replace the AGM-114 Hellfire and AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground missiles in service. Its base version has a firing range of 8 kilometers.
In addition, an improved version of the JAGM-Medium Range (JAGM-MR) missile is currently being developed in the United States with twice the range, up to 16 km. During tests in November 2022, this missile was tested with a three-mode homing head.
In April 2023, Militarnyi reported that the U.S. military had contracted with Lockheed Martin to supply the U.S. Army and foreign customers under the Foreign Military Sales program, JAGM missiles, and AGM-114 Hellfire.
The order value is $439 million. The deal also contains three more options, and with their implementation, the contract value will increase to $4.5 billion over the next four years.
Work on the contract is expected to be completed by September 30, 2025.