A Marine helicopter crew sank a moving training vessel near Okinawa, Japan, using a newly acquired “fire and forget” missile for the first time in the Indo-Pacific region. The two Marine crew of an AH-1Z Viper attached to the Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 262 Reinforced with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit fired the missile Wednesday in training mission in the Philippine Sea in which another vessel towed the target.
Marines used the newly acquired AGM-179 joint air-to-ground missile for the first time in such a strike mission. The missile can be used to defend key maritime terrain against a wide range of targets from armored vehicles to maritime patrol craft during conflict. The missile replaces both the radar-guided Longbow missile and the laser-guided AGM-114, and it can be fired from fighter jets, ground vehicles, or helicopters.
In 2022, the company announced that it had doubled the range of the AGM-179, showcasing a 10-mile strike in testing at the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California. The Marine Corps did not provide distances or target speed of the recent target strike near Okinawa, Japan. The Army also purchased the new missile to arm its Viper equivalent, the AH-64E Apache helicopter.
A Viper crew with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 367 used the missile during Exercise Steel Knight off the California coast on Dec. 5, 2023. Targets were marked with a laser designator from a U.S. Navy MH-60R Seahawk helicopter, used to guide the missile to the objective.
