South Korea has completed plans to procure 100 AGM-142 stand-off missiles, even as news is emerging of the air-launched stand-off missile's failure to hit targets in their debut during the Kosovo air campaign.
US Air Force Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers forward based in the UK employed the AGM-142 during Operation Allied Force, but the sole mission during which two AGM-142s were launched was a failure, Flight International has learned from USAF officials.
They say the weapons, known as Have Nap in USAF service, missed undisclosed targets because of "a software glitch." Programme officials were able quickly to isolate the problem, involving a newly-released version of its software, and test the fixes in flight evaluations.
The AGM-142 was returned to operational status, but was not used again before the campaign stopped. Although not yet combat-proven, USAF officials are confident that they have debugged the AGM-142's problem, which involved one line of software code. "These things happen," they say. The 90km (50nm)-range weapon was employed because of a shortage of the longer-range Boeing AGM-86B conventionally armed air-launched cruise missile.
Meanwhile, South Korea has signed for 100 AGM-142s. A $100 million US foreign military sale has been awarded to PGSUS, the joint venture between Lockheed Martin and the weapon's developer, Rafael. South Korea will arm its McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantoms with the weapon. The first AGM-142s produced in the USA are to be rolled off the Alabama production line this month.
The weapon, known as the Popeye in Israel, has orders worth $600 million, and is in service in Australia, Israel and the USA. The Turkish air force has also placed an order, and Israel has received a request from the Greece, now under scrutiny to see what impact it could have on Israel's defence or diplomatic interests.
Source: Flight International
