Australia first to buy long-range, high-speed, air-to-air missile made in U.S.

FORUM Staff

Australia will be the first nation to buy the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile (JATM), a highly classified air-to-air weapon built in the United States that Canberra can use to counter China’s long-range PL-15 and PL-17 missiles.

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles announced the purchase at the international Pitch Black air combat exercise in Darwin in August 2026. The next-generation missile developed by Lockheed Martin will enable the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) “to strike at a longer range, deter any adversary and protect our national interests,” Marles said.

Though the weapon won’t be available until at least 2033, Marles said Australia will pay about $520 million for an unspecified number of the missiles that will be integrated into the RAAF’s fleet of fighter jets. The AIM-260 JATM will fit into weapon bays of existing fighter aircraft that now house the widely used but less capable AIM-160 AMRAAM. Defense officials will install the new missile on F/A-18F Super Hornet jets, then F-35A and EA-18G Growler aircraft. Eventually it might be loaded onto the RAAF’s MQ-28A Ghost Bat uncrewed combat aircraft.

Though the AIM-260 JATM’s capabilities are classified, its purported range of at least 193 kilometers is “far superior” to that of the AIM-120 AMRAAM, Defense News magazine reported in August. It will complement existing air-to-air and surface-based missile capabilities across the Australian Defence Force (ADF), Canberra stated in a news release, and enhance Australia’s interoperability with the U.S.

The missile is designed to protect assets such as tankers and surveillance aircraft deep into contested airspace, the EurAsian Times website reported in August. It also is built to combat stealth aircraft and operate in disputed areas with heavy electronic jamming, analysts said.

Australian leaders repeatedly have noted Beijing’s rapid military expansion, coercive actions in territorial disputes, dangerous intercepts of ships and aircraft, and growing influence in the South China Sea and waters surrounding Australia.

“This investment will deliver the most advanced capability for our ADF to detect and counter threats, and keep Australians safe,” said Australian Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy.

The purchase builds on previous efforts to ensure the ADF is “capable, equipped and prepared to meet Australia’s strategic circumstances,” the government stated. It perpetuates a trend of Australia being an early or exclusive international buyer of advanced U.S. defense systems, the EurAsian Times reported. For example, Canberra was the first country to purchase the Super Hornet, the lone export customer for the EA-18G Growler and the second nation, after the United Kingdom, to buy Tomahawk cruise missiles, according to the website.

Canberra’s 2026 National Defence Strategy and Integrated Investment Program stressed the need for an air and missile defense system that can detect and counter threats. AIM-260 JATM missiles “are some of the most sophisticated air-to-air weapons in the world,” Conroy said, “and Australia will be the first country to operate them outside the U.S.”