Pentagon is said to walk back shutdown effect on secretive missile program

[Department of Defense]

The Pentagon exaggerated claims that the recent government shutdown had delayed a classified Air Force missile program critical to U.S. competition with China, later acknowledging the system’s development was never disrupted, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday.

A statement from the House Armed Services Committee on Oct. 23 had asserted that the Joint Advanced Tactical Missile (JATM), built by Lockheed Martin (LMT [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/LMT]), faced a three-month deployment delay due to the shutdown. The committee described the missile as essential to maintaining U.S. air-combat parity with China. The claim was later deleted from the release, which originally accused Democrats of weakening national security during the funding impasse.

After inquiries from Bloomberg News, a committee spokesperson clarified that the Air Force “was able to prevent any delay” and that earlier information “wasn’t accurately conveyed.” The Air Force confirmed it had prepared for possible disruptions but avoided them entirely, adding that “the JATM program has not experienced any delays resulting from the shutdown.”

The Air Force and Navy have requested nearly $1 billion in fiscal 2026 to begin production of the long-range air-to-air missile, expected to replace the AIM-120 AMRAAM as America’s top aerial weapon once operational.

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