Fox Three: Raytheon scores hit with half-billion-dollar contract for advanced air-to-air missiles

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla., 24 Dec. 2014.Missile designers at the Raytheon Co., got an early Christmas present this week with a nearly half-billion-dollar contract to provide the AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile (AMRAAM) for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and foreign militaries.

Officials of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., announced a $491.5 million contract Monday to the Raytheon Missile Systems segment in Tucson, Ariz., to provide AMRAAM Lot 28 production for the Air Force, Navy, and the governments of Korea, Oman, Singapore, and Thailand.

Lot 28 involves federal fiscal year 2014 AMRAAM procurement, in which Pentagon officials plan to buy 227 AMRAAM missiles -- 183 AIM-120D missiles for the Air Force and 44 for the Navy, and the rest for foreign military sales.

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Lot 28 AMRAAM production is to include product improvements such as fuzing, guidance, and kinematics, as well as $73.2 million in research and development. Monday's contract includes missiles, the captive air training missile, common munitions bit and reprogramming equipment, and off-the-shelf airborne instrumentation unit.

AMRAAM has scored combat victories in the skies of Iraq, Bosnia, and Kosovo, Raytheon says. It uses digital technology, micro-miniaturized solid-state electronics, and active radar guidance for air combat and air defense. NATO combat pilots use the radio code "Fox Three" when launching an AMRAAM.

AMRAAM provides multi-shot capability, and can be launched day or night, in all weather conditions. Its autonomous guidance capability provides the pilot with launch-and-leave ability to provide fast engagement of follow-on targets or the option to fire first and then run from targets.

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AMRAAM's capabilities include quick fly-out, immunity to countermeasures, and the ability to reject radar clutter to attack low-altitude targets. The missile has active radar guidance, multi-shot capability, and the ability to launch from aircraft or from surface-to-air missile sites.

On this contract Raytheon will do the work in Tucson, Ariz., and should be finished by the end of February 2017. For more information contact Raytheon Missile Systems online at www.raytheon.com, or the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at www.wpafb.af.mil/aflcmc.