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Tucson AZ: Raytheon, in partnership with the Spanish Army and the U.S. Air Force, recently conducted three successful surface-launched firings of the Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) at Sweden's missile test range in Vidsel, Sweden.
The firings consisted of a telemetry shot against a sub-scale target drone, which resulted in a skin-to-skin hit, and two shots successfully demonstrating Raytheon's new command destruct/self destruct (CD/SD) capability for AMRAAM in the surface launch mode.
The CD/SD capability provides greater flexibility in the employment of Surface Launched AMRAAM (SL-AMRAAM) while engaging cruise missile and unmanned aerial vehicle threats. The capability helps mitigate collateral damage when used in a surface launch role within an urban environment. Additionally, CD/SD software provides the capability of a programmable self-destruct to help reduce fratricide. These successful tests concluded more than 24 months of work on the Software Upgrade Program 2006 for AMRAAM.
The CD/SD tests complement a string of successful SL-AMRAAM firings that started in May 2006 with the Norwegian Air Force scoring seven direct hits at its Andoya Rocket Range in Norway. “These recent successes support the operational effectiveness of using the combat-proven AMRAAM in a ground-to-air role for U.S. and allied air defense forces,” said Randy Walters, Raytheon program manager for AMRAAM Surface Launch Applications.
