The AASM entered service in 2007 with the French Air Force and Naval Aviation, equipping the Dassault Rafale and Mirage 2000D.

The program started in 1997, when the Délégation Générale pour l'Armement (DGA), the French defense procurement agency, launched an international competition on the design for the weapon.

[10] A test campaign to validate in flight the main performances of this AASM variant started on 6 December 2004, and ended on 26 July 2005.

[13] This 250 kg IR version performed a night launch from a Rafale fighter-bomber at DGA's Biscarosse test range in December 2010.

[1] In 2017 La Tribune reported a unit cost of €120,000 for a new version called AASM Evolution (Block IV) with the aim by Safran to lower it to €80,000.

And "Libya represents the first opportunity for the French Air and Space to employ the Thales Damocles targeting pod, although the Navy gave the system its combat debut over Afghanistan in late 2010.

"[32] According to a report by Hindustan Times, India placed an order for "large numbers" of the Hammer in September 2020 and deliveries will be completed by the end of November 2020.

[34] On 16 January 2024, French president Emmanuel Macron announced France would be providing several hundred AASM Hammer precision-guided weapons to Ukraine, at a rate of 50 units per month in 2024.