OVERSWEEPThe Interactive Flight Reference

AGM-65 Maverick

A stubby white missile with long delta wings against a black background
An inert AGM-65 Maverick of the Swiss Air Force at Payerne, 2007.Photo: Rama. CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, via Wikimedia Commons (accessed 2026-10-27).

Drafted — not technically validated

Record revision 1 · The West's most widely produced precision-guided missile: TV, infrared or laser seekers, launched and left.

Real-world weapon as described in public sources. Weights and dimensions change with the fins, fuzes and variant fitted; the data plate names the variants its figures describe, and differences are noted beside the number they affect. The record describes the weapon; it is not a guide to employing it.

AGM-65 Maverick · AGM-65

Type
Tactical air-to-surface missile for close air support, interdiction and defence suppression [1] [2]
Origin
United States
In service
August 1972 [1]
Weight
210–304 kg (463–670 lb), depending on version [1]
Dimensions
Length 8 ft 2 in (2.49 m); diameter 30 cm (12 in); wingspan 710 mm (28 in) [1]
Warhead or payload
126 lb WDU-20/B shaped charge (A/B/C/D/H) or 300 lb WDU-24/B penetrating blast-fragmentation (E/F/G/J/K) [1]
Guidance
Electro-optical TV contrast seeker (A/B/H/J/K), imaging infrared (D/F/G) or laser (E) [1] [2]
Fuzing
Contact fuzeFuze GlossaryWeapons: A device that causes the detonation of an explosive charge at the proper time after certain conditions are met. A bomb fuze is mechanical or electrical, and is classed by what sets it off (impact, mechanical time… in the nose for the shaped charge; delayed fuze for the heavy penetrator [1] [2]
Delivery
Launch and leave: the pilot locks the seeker on the target, fires, and is free to manoeuvre or attack another target [2]
Range
A few thousand feet to 13 NM (24 km) at medium altitude [2]
Carried by
  • US Air Force: A-10A-10 Thunderbolt II AircraftThe Warthog: a straight-wing, armoured close air support jet built around the 30 mm GAU-8 cannon., F-15EF-15E Strike Eagle AircraftThe two-seat, long-range, all-weather strike derivative of the Eagle., F-16F-16 Fighting Falcon AircraftA single-engine multirole fighter: fly-by-wire, 9 g, and the US Air Force's main strike and SEAD aircraft., up to six each in three-round clusters [2]
  • US Navy and Marine Corps: imaging infrared and laser versions [2]; F/A-18F/A-18 Hornet AircraftA carrier-capable fighter and attack aircraft that one pilot can switch between roles on the same sortie. and AV-8BAV-8B Harrier II AircraftA vectored-thrust jump jet: vertical or short take-off, flown by the US Marines for close air support. in Desert Storm [1]
  • Exported to more than 30 countries and certified on 25 aircraft [1]
Variants
  • AGM-65A/B: TV contrast seeker; B 'Scene Magnified' for hazy European conditions [1]
  • AGM-65C/E: laser guidance [1]
  • AGM-65D/F/G: imaging infrared for night and poor visibility [1] [2]

Fire and forget

The Maverick replaced the AGM-12 Bullpup, whose launch aircraft had to fly straight at the target while the pilot guided the missile, exposed to the defences the whole way. [1] Hughes built the Maverick as a fire-and-forget missile, the first to use an electronic contrast seeker, and it entered Air Force service in August 1972. [1] The FAS calls this “launch and leave”: the pilot fires and can immediately manoeuvre or attack another target while the missile guides itself. [2] It has become the most widely produced precision-guided missile in the Western world. [1]

Seekers and warheads

In the original TV-guided Maverick A, the seeker’s picture appears on a cockpit screen; the pilot selects the target, centres the cross hairs on it and locks on before launch. [2] Later versions use imaging infrared, for night and haze, or laser guidance. [1] [2] There are two warheads: a shaped charge fired by a contact fuze in the nose, and a heavyweight penetrator with a delayed fuze that drives into large, hard targets before it goes off. [2] Mavericks can be launched from high altitude down to treetop level. [2]

In combat

The Maverick has fought in Vietnam, the Yom Kippur War, the Iran–Iraq War and the Gulf War. [1] In Desert Storm, F-15EsF-15E Strike Eagle AircraftThe two-seat, long-range, all-weather strike derivative of the Eagle., F/A-18sF/A-18 Hornet AircraftA carrier-capable fighter and attack aircraft that one pilot can switch between roles on the same sortie., AV-8BsAV-8B Harrier II AircraftA vectored-thrust jump jet: vertical or short take-off, flown by the US Marines for close air support., F-16sF-16 Fighting Falcon AircraftA single-engine multirole fighter: fly-by-wire, 9 g, and the US Air Force's main strike and SEAD aircraft. and A-10sA-10 Thunderbolt II AircraftThe Warthog: a straight-wing, armoured close air support jet built around the 30 mm GAU-8 cannon., mainly the last two, fired more than 5,000 Mavericks [1], and according to the Air Force it hit 85 per cent of its targets. [2]

Sources

  1. AGM-65 Maverick. Wikipedia (secondary source). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGM-65_Maverick (accessed 2026-10-27).
  2. AGM-65 Maverick. Federation of American Scientists, Military Analysis Network. https://man.fas.org/dod-101/sys/smart/agm-65.htm (accessed 2026-10-27).

Wikipedia articles are secondary sources and can change; they are cited with the date they were read. NAVEDTRA training manuals and budget justification exhibits are official US publications, but each describes the weapons in service when it was written.