Naomi Cooper
An RTX business and the U.S. Air Force have fired the latest variant of the defense contractor’s Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile from an F-16 fighter aircraft, completing the final required flight test of the air defense system.
The final live-fire test of the AMRAAM AIM-120D-3 variant concludes the developmental and operational testing phase of the missile developed under the Form, Fit, Function Refresh program, Raytheon said Monday.
“With significantly increased functionality, performance and producibility, and the completion of the flight test program, we are ensuring warfighters can count on having the fifth generation of AMRAAM – and enough of them – in their arsenal,” said Paul Ferraro, president of air power at Raytheon.
The AIM-120D-3 is designed to upgrade circuit cards in the weapon system’s guidance section and enable continuous agile software improvements in the future.
In April, the missile variant completed a functional configuration audit after undergoing captive carry and platform bench testing and conducting a series of live firings from various Air Force and Navy platforms.
