Raytheon Missiles and Defense was awarded a contract worth more than a billion dollars to produce Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM).

The US Department of Defense released the news on it.

The $1.15 billion contract covers the production of AMRAAM missiles, AMRAAM Telemetry System, initial and field spares, and other production engineering support activities.

According to the contract, the production of missile weapons is expected to be completed by Jan 31, 2027.

This contract involves unclassified Foreign Military Sales to Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom, which accounts for approximately 39% of the contract value.

AIM-120 AMRAAM

AIM-120 AMRAAM is an American all-weather guided missile developed by the American defense company Raytheon Technologies. The missile was adopted into service with the US Army in 1991.

The AIM-120 missile is the primary air-to-air weapon of all types of modern fighter jets of the American armed forces.

The company is currently manufacturing the latest serial version of the AIM-120D missile with a maximum range (under ideal conditions) of about 180 km. Its estimated value was about $2 million in 2018.

AIM-120D is equipped with an active radar homing system, capable of independently capturing a target at a distance of at least 20 km.

The missile is equipped with a two-way communication system with the aircraft and an advanced inertial guidance system with GPS adjustment to fire at longer distances. Due to those systems, the missile is guided by the aircraft’s radar to the final segment of the flight until the missile’s active radar homing system lock the target on its own.

The AIM-120 is also used as an anti-aircraft missile for the Norwegian-American NASAMS air defense system. In this configuration, it is capable of hitting air targets at a distance of up to 40 kilometers.

Currently, two NASAMS anti-aircraft missile systems are in service with the Ukrainian Air Force. Six more systems were ordered by the United States as part of military assistance for Ukraine, and one by Canada. Norway has also recently announced plans to transfer two firing platoons of this air defense system to Ukraine.