The Hill News

When Washington, D.C. spins into a frenzy over defense cuts, even good programs can be ditched in a panic. Sadly, at times like this joint programs and supposed “extras” like new missiles are particularly vulnerable.
 
That’s the case with the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile program, known as JAGM. JAGM does not have a zippy name or a big marketing campaign behind it. Basically, it’s a replacement for three famous but aging missile types: the Hellfire, the Air-Launched TOW and the Maverick. Despite incremental improvements over the years, there’s no getting around the fact that all three of those missiles are 1960s-era designs at the end of their service lives.
 
Enter JAGM, a nearly $1 billion dollar initiative to develop a single missile that all branches of the military can share. Because it’s a joint program it has to make it through triple the budget reviews to survive. Fear is spreading that the Navy or Army will pull out, try to stick ! the other service with the whole bill, and end up collapsing the JAGM program like a house of cards.
 
That would be a mistake, because JAGM comes with important new capabilities that the warfighter has long been asking for. And it does so at lesser cost to the taxpayer than the legacy missiles it replaces.

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