The US Congress has cleared the primary ever export of the brand new AIM-260A Joint Superior Tactical Missile, beneath a package deal that features $2.61 billion value of missiles and $550 million in sustainment to equip the Royal Australian Air Drive’s F-35A fighter items. With 450 missiles included within the deal, they’re being procured for a price of $5.8 million every, excluding extra sustainment prices, that means a full inside air-to-air loadout ofsix missiles for an F-35A Block 4 fighter would value $34.8 million. The AIM-260 is the primary new U.S. air-to-air missile kind to have begun growth for fighter-sized plane because the finish of the Chilly Conflict, with this system having been initiated in 2017 particularly because of the challenges posed to U.S. and allied air dominance by China’s PL-15 missile program.
After struggling sustained growth delays, the primary public requests for funds for procurement of the AIM-260 by the U.S. Navy and Air Drive had been made in mid-2025. Improvement and procurement of the missile have been thought-about significantly pressing on account of Chinese language frontline fighter items’ rising benefit of their capabilities of their air-to-air missiles, with more and more succesful variants of the PL-15 having been launched since 2014, whereas the brand new PL-16 has supplied additional functionality enhancements. Australia and Japan had been lengthy anticipated to be among the many first purchasers for the AIM-260 on account of their proximity to China, and the orientation of their air forces primarily to help the US in a possible battle with the Chinese language Individuals’s Liberation Army.
The AIM-260 was initially meant to enter service round 2022, with a number of delays thought to have pushed this again by at the least 4 to 5 years to 2026-2027. Whereas progress in direction of growth remained unsure, requests for funding for serial manufacturing and procurements in 2025 indicated that this system had already approached or reached an finish to growth testing. It has been broadly speculated that the AIM-260 will probably be far too pricey to completely change the AIM-120 in service, and that manufacturing of the AIM-120D will proceed in parallel to AIM-260 manufacturing. The missiles are anticipated to be prioritised to equip fighter items within the Pacific because of the challenges posed by Chinese language air energy within the area.
The AIM-260 was designed to widen the first-shot alternative in beyond-visual-range fight, present countermeasures in opposition to more and more succesful digital warfare, and have interaction targets at for much longer ranges than the older AIM-120 can. The missile can also be purported to combine a way more highly effective lively electronically scanned array radar in its nostril cone, a lot because the PL-15 and PL-16 have, to have the ability to higher lock on to stealth targets corresponding to Chinese language J-20 fifth technology fighters. The Royal Australian Air Drive at the moment fields 72 F-35A fighters cut up between three operational squadrons, alongside the No. 2 Operational Conversion Unit. The procurement will equip the Air Drive with 6.25 AIM-260 missiles per fighter, permitting beforehand procured AIM-120 missiles for use as a reserve stockpile.
Though Lockheed Martin is holding “very lively” talks with the Pentagon about enhancing the F-35 to a ‘5+ technology’ commonplace, these upgrades are anticipated to greater than double the price of the plane, whereas nonetheless leaving it effectively under parity with the capabilities of China’s sixth technology fighters at the moment beneath growth. China’s unveiling of two new sixth technology fighters in December 2024 already at flight prototype phases instantly brought on a drop in Lockheed Martin’s inventory worth, and resulted within the Pentagon allocating the next precedence to the F-47 program and deprioritising orders for the F-35. Rising indicators of fast progress being made in China growing these plane means they could effectively enter service earlier than the F-35 is dropped at a totally Block 4 commonplace, not to mention a ‘5+ technology’ commonplace, and over to half a decade earlier than the F-47 may be introduced into service.
