The US Air Force intends to lay the groundwork for accelerated production of the classified AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile (JATM), which will replace the AIM-120 AMRAAM. The new weapon is being developed for fourth, fifth and sixth generation fighter jets, but US Air Force officials said in a speech to Congress that the drones will also be equipped with JATM.

What is known

We are talking about unmanned aerial vehicles of joint action, which are being developed as part of the program Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA). Drones with AIM-260 JATM missiles will work closely with sixth-generation manned fighters.

US Air Force Chief of Staff Charles Q. Brown stressed that JATM is a very important component to the CCA program. Earlier there was information that the service wants to develop 1,000 drones: 600 for the F-35A Lightning II and 400 for fifth-sixth-generation fighters. The pilot of each aircraft will fly two drones.

The first carrier of JATM will be the F-22 Raptor. The F-35 Lightning II, F-15EX Eagle II, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, and a sixth-generation fighter that will appear in about 12 years will also be able to launch the AIM-260.

Source: The War Zone