The battle to replace the Hellfire

You know about the Joint Strike Fighter and Britain’s “joint strike frigate” — well there’s also a “joint strike missile” in the works.

DoD wants the Joint Air to Ground Missile to replace three long-serving, near-legendary weapons: The Tube-Launched, Optically Tracked, Wire-guided missile known as TOW; the Maverick; and, probably best known, the AGM 114 Hellfire.

Like the F-35, the JAGM continues the Pentagon’s trend of super high-stakes competitions where all the marbles are on the line, holding the promise of thousands upon thousands of missiles, and billions of dollars, for whichever corporate giant can get the deal to build it.

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