Military Matters: New missile tested right here

Yuma Proving Ground having recently celebrated a milestone; 75 years of testing the weapons used by our military. One of those tests involved the latest in air to ground missiles; the latest version is the Joint Air to Ground Missile. For troops involved in a combat situation their environment can change drastically in a matter of seconds; until now, if troops had a target which needed to be destroyed they’d have to aim a semi-active laser on it and wait until impact.

In a perfect world the enemy would wait for the target to be destroyed; but that’s not the world we live. Once a missile is fired the laser must remain on target and if, for any reason, let’s say for example troops come under fire the missile may miss. That’s where the JAGM comes into play, the missile can launch from an aircraft guided by a laser, but if for any reason that signal is lost the missile can use an alternate lock like radar.