The US defense department has warded Raytheon a $768.3 million contract for the production of advanced medium range air-to-air missiles (AMRAAM) for a number of international customers.
This contract provides for the production of the AMRAAM missiles, captive air training missiles, guidance sections, AMRAAM telemetry system, spares and other production engineering support hardware.
Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, with an expected completion date of Feb. 28, 2023.
Raytheon will be delivering the missiles to Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, Turkey and United Kingdom, which accounts for 47 percent of the contract value.
A follow-on to the AIM-7 Sparrow missile series, the AMRAAM is compatible with the US Air Force F-15, F-16, F-22, F-35 and Navy F/A-18 C-F, in addition to ally aircraft.
It incorporates active radar with an inertial reference unit and micro-computer system, which makes the missile less dependent upon the fire-control system of the aircraft. The supersonic missile has a range of over 20 miles. An extended-range (AMRAAM-ER) of the missile, which is based on Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile, offers a 50 percent increase in range.
