Naomi Cooper
Northrop Grumman demonstrated its guided air-launched missile prototype during a captive flight test held at the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in California.
The new missile identified and discriminated integrated air defense systems and tracked intended targets while doing captive flight maneuvers using a company test aircraft, Northrop said Monday.
The internally funded air-launched missile’s design builds on Northrop’s existing work on the U.S. Navy’s AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile-Extended Range weapon system, which is integrated with the service branch’s F-35 fleet.
“By merging our weapons expertise and internal investments with our digital engineering proficiency, we are rapidly delivering advanced missile capabilities,” said Mary Petrysyzn, corporate vice president and president of Northrop’s defense systems division and a 2022 Wash100 Award recipient.
Northrop completed the third live fire test of the AARGM-ER on an F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft on Friday.
The company plans to perform additional flight tests in 2022 to subject all programs related to the AARGM-ER project to more scenarios.
