Updated December 5, 2024

Defense Primer: U.S. Precision-Guided Munitions

According to the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), a • Hellfire/Longbow Missile. The AGM-114 Hellfire is an
precision-guided munition (PGM) is a “guided weapon air-to-ground missile that uses laser guidance to target
intended to destroy a point target and minimize collateral armored vehicles. The Longbow is a millimeter-wave
damage.” In contrast to unguided munitions such as certain radar-guided variant of the Hellfire. Introduced by the
artillery rounds and rockets, a guided munition can change Army in 1985, the Hellfire is an Army-led joint service
its flight trajectory to correct for targeting errors, weather, program. Although the Hellfire remains in use, the
or other issues, and to increase the munition’s probability of Army did not include procurement funds for the missile
striking a target. Guided munitions leverage guidance in its FY2025 budget request and it is unclear whether
components such as inertial measurement units, global the Army intends to do so in future requests, according
positioning system (GPS) receivers, laser seekers, and to the service’s budget justification documents.
millimeter-wave radar seekers. This In Focus provides an
introduction to some of the most prominent guided missiles, Figure 1. U.S. Military Spending on Selected PGMs,
bombs, and rockets that constitute the U.S. military’s PGM FY2020-FY2024 ($ in millions)
portfolio.

Some analysts trace the term “precision-guided” munitions

to the U.S. development of laser-guided bombs in the 1960s
and their subsequent introduction during the Vietnam War.
Although guided munitions were likely first used in the
Second World War, laser guidance and other advancements
in missilery in the 1960s and 1970s improved munitions’
ability to strike a target with greater accuracy. In time, the
term “precision” as applied to munitions became less
associated with a particular munition type, guidance
system, or measurement of accuracy than with guided
munitions writ large, as well as with the quality of the
intelligence, planning, and decisionmaking that are meant Source: Produced by CRS using the DOD’s Major Weapons
to underpin their use. Summaries for FY2020-FY2024 and the joint explanatory statement
for the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (P.L. 118-47).
During the 1991 First Gulf War, the United States relied on Note: This figure reflects the DOD procurement and RDT&E
guided munitions more than it had in previous armed funding for the PGMs described in this product.
conflicts. Since then, analysts assess that guided munitions
appear to have largely supplanted unguided munitions in • Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM). The AGM-179
U.S. military operations. Procurement and research, JAGM, an Army-led joint service program, is an air-to-
development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) spending by ground guided missile designed to replace the Hellfire
the U.S. Air Force, Army, and Navy on guided munitions and Longbow missiles. The JAGM combines the
has increased as each service has sought to replenish and warhead, motor, and flight control systems of the AGM-
modernize its stocks of weapons (see Figure 1). 114R Hellfire with a multimode seeker that features a
semi-active laser and millimeter-wave radar guidance
Selected Air-Launched Precision system. Lockheed Martin began low-rate initial
Munitions production of the JAGM in 2018.
• Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile–Extended
Range (AARGM-ER). The AARGM-ER, a Navy-led • Joint Air-to-Surface Strike Munition (JASSM). The
program with Air Force involvement, provides hardware AGM-158 JASSM, an Air Force-led program with Navy
and software updates to the AGM-88 High Speed Anti- participation, is a family of air-to-ground cruise missiles
Radiation Missile (HARM), an air-launched ground composed of baseline and extended-range
attack missile designed to target radar-equipped air configurations. The Air Force began developing the
defenses. The AARGM is the product of Navy programs JASSM in the mid-1990s and approved low-rate initial
in the early 2000s that added GPS receivers and production of the baseline missile in 2001. The latest
millimeter-wave radar seekers to HARM missiles. versions of the JASSM, the AGM-158B-3 and AGM-
Production of the AARGM began in 2008. The latest 158D, are extended-range variants that are equipped
version of the missile, the AGM-88G, is the extended- with a Military Code (M-code) GPS receiver and an
range (ER) variant and incorporates a new solid rocket encrypted datalink, respectively.
motor.

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 Defense Primer: U.S. Precision-Guided Munitions

• Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM). The JDAM, a • Javelin. The FGM-148 Javelin is a shoulder-mounted,
joint Air Force and Navy program, provides a tail- fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile (ATGM)
mounted guidance kit composed of a GPS-aided inertial designed primarily to defeat armored vehicles. An
navigation system (INS) for air-launched unguided Army-led joint service program, the Javelin was
bombs. The Air Force first used JDAMs during 1999 developed by the Army starting in the early 1980s; the
Operation Allied Freedom in Kosovo. The latest version Army is currently upgrading the missile from the FGM-
of the JDAM is equipped with an M-code GPS receiver 148F, or F-model, to the G-model. The Army is also
for operations in denied environments, according to the developing a new version of the reusable launcher unit.
Air Force.
• Precision Strike Missile (PrSM). The PrSM, an Army
• Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM). The AGM- program, is a ground-launched missile designed to
158C LRASM is an air-launched anti-ship cruise replace the ATACMS. Initially known as the Long-
missile. A Navy-led program, the LRASM is part of the Range Precision Fires (LRPF), the PrSM was developed
AGM-158 family and shares a production line with the by the Army as a replacement for the ATACMS in
Air Force’s JASSM. The U.S. Defense Advanced 2017. The Army announced in December 2023 that it
Research Projects Agency (DARPA), in partnership had accepted delivery of the first Increment 1 PrSMs.
with the Navy and Air Force, began developing the Beginning in FY2026, the Army plans to begin
LRASM in 2009. The Navy approved the start of low- procuring Increment 2, which will reportedly have a
rate initial production of the missile in 2016. The latest modified guidance system, according to the service’s
version is the AGM-158C-3, which features an extended budget justification documents.
range and improved communications, according to the
Navy’s FY2025 budget justification documents. Selected Naval Precision Munitions
• Naval Strike Missile (NSM). The NSM is a low-
• Small Diameter Bomb I and II (SDB). The SDB observable cruise missile developed by Kongsberg
Increment I and II are air-launched guided bombs. The
Defence Systems, a Norwegian defense company, in the
GBU-39A/B SDB I, an Air Force program, is equipped
early 2000s. In 2018, the Navy awarded a Kongsberg-
with a GPS-aided INS guidance system and designed
Raytheon team a contract to provide the NSM for the
primarily for striking stationary targets. The GBU-53/B
Navy’s Over-The-Horizon Weapon System (OTH-WS),
SDB II, an Air Force-led program with Navy
an armament on the Littoral Combat Ship. The NSM is
participation, features a multimode seeker with
also the key component of the Navy Marine Corps
millimeter-wave radar and an infrared sensor. The Air
Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS), a
Force began fielding SDB I in 2006. The DOD
ground-based anti-ship missile system.
approved the start of low-rate initial production of the
SDB II in 2015.
• Standard Missile-6 (SM-6). The SM-6, or RIM-174
Extended Range Active Missile (ERAM), is a multi-
Selected Ground-Launched Precision mission missile that combines elements of the SM-2
Munitions surface-to-air missile with the guidance system of a
• Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS). The medium-range air-to-air missile. The Navy launched the
MGM-140 ATACMS, an Army program, is a ground- SM-6 program in 2004 and has since developed three
launched missile. The Army began developing the versions of the missile—Block I, IA, and IB—that are
ATACMS in the early 1980s as a replacement for the differentiated by their intended target sets.
Lance missile. Low-rate production of the missile began
in 1989. Originally designed with inertial sensors (Block • Tomahawk. The Tomahawk, a Navy program, is a
1), the Army upgraded the ATACMS in the 1990s to long-range cruise missile designed to be launched from
include GPS receivers (Block 1A). In 2017, the Army submarines and surface ships against fixed and mobile
launched a service life extension program to modernize targets. Derived from a concept for a sea-launched
the warhead and seeker on ageing ATACMS munitions. cruise missile (SLCM) dating to the early 1970s, the
Tomahawk was fielded by the Navy in the early 1980s.
• Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS). The Navy first used the missile in combat during the
The GMLRS, an Army-led joint program, is a guided 1991 Operation Desert Storm. The Navy announced in
artillery rocket that uses a guidance system composed of 2020 that it would convert all Block IV Tomahawk
a GPS-aided inertial measurement unit (IMU). Designed missiles to the RGM/UGM-109E Block V Tactical
in the mid-1990s as a guided alternative to the free- Tomahawk, of which there are two varieties, Va and Vb,
flight MLRS artillery rocket, the Army approved the for use against maritime and land targets, respectively.
low-rate initial production of the GMLRS in 2003; the
Army began in 2017 to develop a long-range version of Daniel M. Gettinger, Analyst in U.S. Defense Policy
the GMLRS that extends the munition’s range from 70
kilometers to 150 kilometers. IF11353

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 Defense Primer: U.S. Precision-Guided Munitions

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