US approves JAGM for Dutch Apache helicopters
The Netherlands is acquiring the JAGM to equip its fleet of AH-64E attack helicopters. (Netherlands Ministry of Defence)
The United States government has approved the sale of the Lockheed Martin AGM-179A Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) to the Netherlands.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced the US Department of State's approval on 12 June, saying that 296 missiles and related items are to be acquired for an estimated USD215 million.
“The Netherlands intends to use these defence articles and services to modernise its armed forces and expand its capability to strengthen its homeland defence and deter regional threats,” the DSCA said, adding, “These systems will be employed by AH-64 Apache attack helicopters operated by the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF).”
As noted by Janes Weapons: Air-Launched , the JAGM programme is a US Army-led pre‐Major Defense Acquisition Program (MDAP) with joint involvement from the US Navy (USN) and US Marine Corps (USMC), as well as a co‐operative developmental effort with the UK. The JAGM replaces airborne tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided (TOW), Hellfire, and AGM-65 Maverick missiles, and it is aimed at supporting more efficient logistics by replacing several missile variants with a single, interoperable weapon.
The JAGM utilises a dual-mode seeker composed of millimetric-wave (MMW) and semi-active laser (SAL) sensors. While the SAL is used for precision strikes, the active MMW penetrates adverse weather and battlefield obscurants, defeats countermeasures, and more accurately acquires moving targets.
Target sets include high-value stationary, moving, and relocatable land and maritime objects, with Janes Weapons: Air-Launched
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