Article Posted on : - Jul 16, 2010

The Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) mounted on an F/A-18 aircraft.

MINNEAPOLIS (BNS): The Alliant Techsystems (ATK) has delivered the first Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missiles (AARGM) to US Navy.

The Developmental and Operational Assessment test phases of the AARGM programme were earlier completed by the company.

According to an ATK news release, AARGM has the unique combat capability of destructing modern enemy air defence systems, time-critical targets and other mobile targets. It also minimises the chance of collateral damage and eliminates the need to fly continuous suppression sorties throughout the duration of a conflict.

The AARGM is an upgraded form for the US and Italian international cooperative programme, AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-radiation Missile (HARM) systems.

AARGM provides the war-fighter with a supersonic, air-launched tactical missile that will be integrated on the FA-18C/D, FA-18E/F, EA-18G and Tornado ECR aircraft. The missile is also designed for compatibility with the F-35 Lightning II, EA-6B Prowler and US and Allied F-16 Falcon aircraft.

Its advanced multi-sensor system, including a Millimeter Wave (MMW) terminal seeker, advanced digital Anti-Radiation Homing (ARH) receiver and a GPS/INS coupled with a Digital Electronic Terrain Data (DTED), is capable of rapidly engaging traditional and advanced enemy air defence targets as well as non-radar time-sensitive strike targets.

AARGM is a network-enabled weapon that will directly receive tactical intelligence information via an embedded receiver and transmits real-time Weapon Impact Assessment (WIA) reports prior to impact.

ATK delivered the missiles to US Navy at its Allegany Ballistics Laboratory (ABL) facility located in Rocket Center, West Virginia.