A Marine Corps AH-1Z attack helicopter fires an AGM-179 joint air-to-ground missile during an exercise off the coast of Okinawa, Japan, June 26, 2024 (Christopher Lape/U.S. Marine Corps)
A U.S. Marine Corps attack helicopter sank a moving training target in the Philippine Sea during a recent exercise, the first use of a new air-to-ground missile in the region, the Corps announced Friday.
An AH-1Z Viper attack helicopter from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 262 sank a towed training vessel Wednesday with an AGM-179 Joint Air-to-Ground Missile, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit spokesman Capt. Pawel Puczko said in a Friday news release.
It was the first use of the missile in the Indo-Pacific, according to information from the 31st MEU posted Thursday on the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service.
The precision-guided missile is intended for high value targets — moving or stationary — on land and at sea. It can also be used to “defend key maritime terrain against a wide-range of targets from armored vehicles to maritime patrol craft during conflict,” Puczko said in the news release.
Defending “key maritime terrain” applies to the Marine Corps’ updated role as a “stand-in force” seizing islands within range of enemy fire to control key ocean straits in the chain stretching from Japan to the Philippines.
U.S. Marine Corps aviation ordnance technicians lload an AGM-179 joint air-to-ground missile onto an AH-1Z Viper attack helicopter at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan, June 26, 2024. (Christopher Lape/U.S. Marine Corps)
Refueling and rearming took place at a training area on Okinawa, and the live-fire exercise in the Philippine Sea, Puczko told Stars and Stripes by email Friday.
The exercise allowed pilots to “increase their proficiency and get proof of concept on their tactics and targeting capabilities,” he added.
A similar exercise took place off the coast of California in December, when a Viper from Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 367 fired the missile during Exercise Steel Knight 23.2, according to a Dec. 20 news release from the I Marine Expeditionary Force.
The AGM-179, also known as JAGM, is the replacement for the laser-guided AGM-114 Hellfire missile and its radar-guided variant, the Longbow, that combines the abilities of both into one weapon, according to manufacturer Lockheed Martin’s website.
It can be fired from helicopters, fighter jets and ground vehicles. Its newest variant, the medium-range JAGM-MR, has a range of approximately 10 miles, according to Lockheed Martin.
