PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. – U.S. Navy aerial warfare experts are ordering special new missile launchers to enable Navy F/A-18 Hornet jet fighter-bombers to carry the nation's latest and most lethal air-to-air missiles.
Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md. announced a $42.4 million contract Thursday to Marvin Engineering Co. Inc. in Inglewood, Calif., to build 770 LAU-127 guided missile launchers for the F/A-18 jet fighter-bomber aircraft.
The Marvin LAU-127 missile rail launcher enables the F/A-18 carrier-based strike fighter to carry and launch the radar-guided AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) and the AIM-9X Sidewinder heat-seeking missile. Navy officials are ordering 567 LAU-127 launchers for the Navy; 185 for the government of Kuwait; and 18 for the government of Switzerland.
This contract involves LAU-127E/A, which has a slight weight variation from the Marvin LAU-127A/A, LAU-127B/A, LAU-127C/A, LAU-127D/A, and LAU-127F/A versions.
The LAU-127 provides the electrical and mechanical interface between the AMRAAM and AIM-9X air-to-air missile systems and the F/A-18 aircraft, as well as the two-way data transfer between the missile and the aircraft's cockpit controls and displays.
The electrical interfaces between the LAU-127 and the F/A-18 air crew also supports preflight orientation and control circuits to prepare and launch the missiles.
The Marvin LAU-127 is part of a family of single-rail missile launchers that fire AIM-9 Sidewinder of AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles from under-wing stations of the aircraft, mounted to pylons, or on wingtip stations.
The LAU-127E/A is integrated with F/A-18A/B/C/D Hornets, F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and EA-18 Growlers. It contains a power supply and a supply of bottled nitrogen coolant for the missile seeker heads. The missile launcher is nearly nine fee long, 3.6 inches wide, and 6 inches high, and weighs 87 pounds.
The Raytheon AMRAAM is an advanced radar-guided missile developed to replace the AIM-7 Sparrow missile. It 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.
The Raytheon AIM-9X is a relatively short-range infrared heat-seeking missile that equips most jet fighters, fighter-bombers, and other offensive combat aircraft in the U.S. arsenal, and is used to shoot down enemy aircraft close by. The AIM-9X works by homing in on an enemy aircraft's hot engine exhaust. Variants of the AIM-9 Sidewinder have been deployed since the 1950s.
The AIM-9X is among the latest versions of the AIM-9 missile family. It has an imaging infrared focal plane array seeker with 90-degree off-boresight capability for accuracy. The missile is compatible helmet-mounted displays such as the U.S. Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System, and features 3-D thrust-vectoring control for increased turn capability. The AIM-9X also includes an internal cooling system.
On this contract Marvin Engineering will do the work in Inglewood, Calif., and should be finished by May 2024. For more information contact Marvin Engineering online at http://marvineng.com, or Naval Air Systems Command at www.navair.navy.mil.
