Joint Advanced Weapon System (JAWS)
The Joint Advanced Weapon System (JAWS) is the missile planned to replace TOW and possibly Hellfire. JAWS is supposed to possess a true "fire and forget" capability. This is to be accomplished through an infrared imaging system that will allow the missile to seek targets on the battlefield for which it has been programmed. For instance, if the missile is "looking" for an enemy T-72 tank but instead "sees" a friendly M1-A1 tank, the missile will not home in on the friendly tank.
The Joint Advanced Weapon System (JAWS) is the joint service multi-role follow-on weapon system for the current TOW and Hellfire missiles, to support Army and USMC Mission Need Statements (MNS) for weapon requirements for the post- 2000 force structure. Navy JAWS efforts support joint trade studies, Analysis of Alternatives (AOA), and the development of emerging programs’ Milestone 0 documentation.
Through Memorandums of Understanding (MOU), the Army is assigned as the lead service. Development programs include The Army Combined Arms Weapon System (TACAWS), the Advanced Missile System- Heavy (AMS- H), the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) guided rocket, and component upgrades to the currently deployed missile systems. The Navy participates in technology modeling and simulation efforts at the Army’s Advanced Prototyping, Engineering, and experimentation (APEX) Laboratory. This modeling supports hardware development efforts such as the Future Missile Technology Integration (FMTI) program, to explore advanced guidance, propulsion, and motor capabilities desired by the services. As a simulator, the APEX Lab also assists in developing potential Tactics, Techniques, and procedures (TTPs), and in operationally validating the requirements set out in the MNS and the ORD. All JAWS efforts support the services’ requirements for state- of- the- art capabilities to complement the next generation of aircraft and to defeat the threats of the post- 2000 battlefield.
Allowances are not being made by the Army and the Marine Corps for the possibility that JAWS may not satisfy the requirements and needs for the Marine Corps' attack helicopters. TOW has a shelf life of 10 years. Planned operational fielding of the JAWS missile is 2005, but the last planned purchase of TOW missiles for the Army and Marine Corps has already taken place.
In 1992 the Marine Corps Aviation Weapons and Requirements Branch, Headquarters Marine Corps, drafted a Mission Need Statement for JAWS. The purpose of the Mission Need Statement (MNS), was to jointly provide the Army and the Navy/Marine Corps team with a highly versatile weapon that would permit simultaneous engagement of multiple targets. Its goal was to enable force commanders to focus lethal combat power, enhance survivability, and achieve freedom of action on a modern, dynamic battlefield.
The Army also concurred with the MNS of the Marine Corps, and was particularly interested in the applicability of JAWS to satisfy the deficiencies in the air to air capability of its attack and scout aircraft.
The description of the JAWS program as envisioned by the Army, and specifically MICOM, was to provide a follow on anti-armor replacement for the Hellfire 2 (HOMS) and the TOW2 AIR missile, overcoming the current operational limitations inherent in laser and/or wire guided SACLOS weapons. The objectives of the program were, 1. To "neckdown", that is, to produce one missile where today there are two, TOW and Hellfire. 2. To augment the AIM-9 missile for an anti-helo capability (a capability that the Army was more concerned with than the Marine Corps). 3. To fire and forget the missile. 4. To possess a very high speed and long range. 5. To be IOC (have an initial operating capability) by 2003. 6. To be fully operational in 2005.
