Article Posted on : - Apr 11, 2015

Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM). A Raytheon photo.

TUCSON, ARIZONA (BNS): Raytheon Company has recently completed two milestones for the newest Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), the AIM-120D.

The U.S. Air Force successfully completed testing and fielded the AIM-120D. The U.S. Navy achieved initial operational capability (IOC) on the weapon, the Company said.

"AMRAAM is the most capable air-to-air weapon ever produced," said Ron Krebs, AMRAAM programme director for Raytheon Missile Systems. "The AIM-120D represents a significant improvement in air-to-air weapons capabilities and the technologies it brings to the battlefield give U.S. warfighters an unmatched advantage in the air-to-air arena."

With the Air Force, the new AMRAAM was subjected to several scenarios designed to represent realistic combat conditions. AIM-120D demonstrated outstanding capability against challenging targets, and it performed superbly in all regimes of flight. Airborne testing verified that AIM-120D is ready for overseas deployment.

IOC follows extensive flight testing, where the Navy integrated and tested Raytheon's AMRAAM AIM-120D missile on the F/A-18 Hornet and the Super Hornet aircraft. The Navy plans to deploy with the D later this year.

The AIM-120D is the newest air-to-air weapon in the U.S. arsenal and has significant capability improvements, including increased range, GPS-aided navigation, two-way data link and improved weapons effectiveness.

AMRAAM is a combat-proven missile that demonstrates operational flexibility in both air-to-air and surface-launch scenarios and provides today's warfighter with enhanced operational capability, cost effectiveness and future growth options/solutions.