{"id":6263,"date":"2026-08-10T20:02:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T20:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/6263\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T20:02:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T20:02:12","slug":"australia-to-place-first-aim-260-missile-order-under-500m-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/6263\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia to Place First AIM-260 Missile Order Under $500M+ Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Canberra is committing nearly 736 million Australian dollars ($520.1 million) to arm the Royal Australian Air Force with the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile (JATM).<\/p>\n

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles verified the planned procurement during an exercise in Darwin, positioning the Oceanian country as the first international operator of the US-made air-to-air weapon.<\/p>\n

Once delivered, the high-speed, long-range missile will initially integrate onto Australia\u2019s F\/A-18F Super Hornet<\/a> combat aircraft before expanding to its F-35A Lightning II<\/a> and EA-18G Growler<\/a> fleets.<\/p>\n

\u201cJATM missiles are some of the most sophisticated air-to-air weapons in the world,\u201d Australian Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy commented<\/a> on the deal, noting that the purchase is backed by a 36-billion Australian dollar ($25.4 billion) decade-long focus on guided weapons.<\/p>\n

Up to 450 Missiles Expected<\/p>\n

The transaction builds on Washington\u2019s April approval of a broader AIM-260 foreign military sale to Australia worth more than $3 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The move cleared the potential transfer of up to 450 missiles, integration testbeds, guided test units, spares, and related equipment.<\/p>\n

Shipments under that arrangement are projected to begin in 2033.<\/p>\n

Secretive Weapon<\/p>\n

The next-generation AIM-260 JATM provides a beyond-visual-range capability designed to succeed the AIM-120 AMRAAM<\/a>, supporting the layered air and missile defense goals outlined in Australia\u2019s latest National Defence Strategy.<\/p>\n

Most of the weapon\u2019s data remain classified since its development in 2017, but analysts predict that the projectile will exceed the range of its predecessor\u2019s 160-kilometer (99-mile) record, while preserving next-generation architecture and capabilities.<\/p>\n

In the US military, the AIM-260 will be distributed across the F-22 Raptors<\/a> and Super Hornets<\/a>, and eventually for the nation\u2019s upcoming F-47 sixth-generation fighter jets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Albanese Government continues to deliver critical capabilities that will allow the [Australian Defence Force] to strike at a longer range, deter any adversary and protect our national interests,\u201d Marles stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Canberra is committing nearly 736 million Australian dollars ($520.1 million) to arm the Royal Australian Air…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3788,3789,1289,1731,1290,1637,191,14,3790,3791,326,1924,1063],"class_list":["post-6263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-aim-260-joint-advanced-tactical-missile","tag-air-to-air-missiles","tag-arms","tag-arms-deals","tag-arms-export","tag-arms-procurement","tag-australia","tag-defence-industry","tag-foreign-military-sales","tag-government-contracts","tag-missiles","tag-royal-australian-air-force","tag-weapons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}