Australia Becomes the First Foreign Buyer of the AIM-260 in a A$736 Million Deal

Australia will become the first country outside the United States to field the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile, the Defence Minister announced on August 6, 2026 at Exercise Pitch Black in Darwin. The acquisition is worth about A$736 million, roughly US$480 million, and will be conducted through the US Foreign Military Sales programme.

The AIM-260 JATM is a Lockheed Martin beyond-visual-range weapon developed to succeed the AIM-120 AMRAAM, which entered service in 1991 and remains the standard Western radar-guided air-to-air missile. Its performance figures are classified. GlobalMilitary.net lists an indicative range on the order of 200 kilometres against 105 kilometres for the AMRAAM, and The War Zone reports the missile is designed to reach targets at least 120 miles away, if not substantially further. Flight testing is under way; the missile is not yet in operational service.

Australia will integrate the weapon across its fast-jet force. The F/A-18F Super Hornet is the first platform, followed by the F-35A and the EA-18G Growler, with the MQ-28 Ghost Bat collaborative combat aircraft named as a future candidate. "JATM missiles are some of the most sophisticated air-to-air weapons in the world," the Minister for Defence Industry said. First deliveries are expected in the third quarter of 2033.

The buy covers a fighter force of some size. GlobalMilitary.net inventory data credits the Royal Australian Air Force with 72 F-35A Lightning II and a further 28 on order, 24 F/A-18F Super Hornets and 12 EA-18G Growlers, giving 108 combat aircraft in service today that could carry the missile once integration is complete. Australia, ranked 18th in the global military power ranking, is the only export operator of the Growler and among the largest F-35 customers outside Europe.

The decision reflects a specific problem. The AMRAAM's reach has been overtaken by China's PL-15, carried by the J-20 and J-16, and the JATM programme was launched to restore the margin without giving up the ability to carry the missile internally in an F-35's weapons bay, which rules out simply building a larger round. Australia's early commitment gives Washington a second production customer at a point when US munitions output is under strain: reporting in early August indicated the US expended virtually all of its long-range precision missile stocks during the 2026 Iran conflict.

The commitment draws on a Foreign Military Sale the US State Department cleared in late 2025, covering up to 450 operational AIM-260A rounds along with five test vehicles and 30 guided test vehicles, valued at $2.6 billion for major defense equipment and about $3.1 billion in total. The A$736 million announced in Darwin is a first tranche against that ceiling; the number of rounds Australia is buying has not been stated. Integration begins with the Super Hornet, and first deliveries are expected in the third quarter of 2033. The US Air Force has still not announced an initial operational capability date for its own fleets.