Photo: Lockheed Martin
They say a warfighting platform such as a fighter aircraft is only as good as the pilots that fly it and the weapons they carry. When it comes to the latter piece of this puzzle, it can’t get any better than the JAGM-MR. At least when it comes to hitting things on the ground from high up in the sky.
JAGM-MR stands for Joint-Air-To-Ground Missile, and it's a weapon being developed by defense contractor Lockheed Martin. The program kicked off all the way back in 2007, and it is only now entering the final stretch that will see America's aerial power increase significantly.
You see, the MR variant of the JAGM is the latest innovation that came to the mind of the people over at Lockheed. It's the same kind of missile that can be launched from helicopters (the Apache or Seahawk, for instance), or drones (like the Gray Eagle), and of course airplanes (F-35 mostly), only it comes with double the range and a hell of a targeting system that won't let go of the target pretty much no matter what.
Usually, JAGM weapons have a range of five miles (eight km), but as of last year, the MR variant proved it can easily double that, reaching its target located ten miles (16 km) away from where it was fired. This, of course, means a lot for the pilots firing it, as they can do so from a safe distance.
The missile can lock on to either moving or stationary targets, and thanks to a new tri-mode seeker tech that was tested at the beginning of this month at the China Lake Test Range in California, it stays with them until it's sure they are destroyed.
Normally the JAGM comes with something called the Semi-Active Laser (SAL) and the Millimeter Wave (MMW) sensor. They allow the missile to stay on target, but without the aid of a third sensor it proves at times difficult to do, especially when said target gets lost among a multitude of others.
A third sensor added to the MR works in near-infrared and has proven during this month's test, the missile's first guided flight, that it can help the missile to "successfully discriminate between multiple targets." In doing so, it can "lock onto the selected target even when there's multiple targets in the field." What that means for the ones at the wrong end of the missile is that there's no escaping it.
Lockheed Martin does not say when the JAGM-MR will be ready to be fielded on the battlefields of the world. The U.S. Army gave the JAGM weapon the green light for full-rate production in the summer of last year, so it probably won't be long now until it starts to serve.
You see, the MR variant of the JAGM is the latest innovation that came to the mind of the people over at Lockheed. It's the same kind of missile that can be launched from helicopters (the Apache or Seahawk, for instance), or drones (like the Gray Eagle), and of course airplanes (F-35 mostly), only it comes with double the range and a hell of a targeting system that won't let go of the target pretty much no matter what.
Usually, JAGM weapons have a range of five miles (eight km), but as of last year, the MR variant proved it can easily double that, reaching its target located ten miles (16 km) away from where it was fired. This, of course, means a lot for the pilots firing it, as they can do so from a safe distance.
The missile can lock on to either moving or stationary targets, and thanks to a new tri-mode seeker tech that was tested at the beginning of this month at the China Lake Test Range in California, it stays with them until it's sure they are destroyed.
Normally the JAGM comes with something called the Semi-Active Laser (SAL) and the Millimeter Wave (MMW) sensor. They allow the missile to stay on target, but without the aid of a third sensor it proves at times difficult to do, especially when said target gets lost among a multitude of others.
A third sensor added to the MR works in near-infrared and has proven during this month's test, the missile's first guided flight, that it can help the missile to "successfully discriminate between multiple targets." In doing so, it can "lock onto the selected target even when there's multiple targets in the field." What that means for the ones at the wrong end of the missile is that there's no escaping it.
Lockheed Martin does not say when the JAGM-MR will be ready to be fielded on the battlefields of the world. The U.S. Army gave the JAGM weapon the green light for full-rate production in the summer of last year, so it probably won't be long now until it starts to serve.
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