[Corrects teaming relationships on Joint Air to Ground Missile competition.]
Raytheon is to restart production of a nearly 30-year-old air-to-ground missile system that is scheduled for replacement.
The company is to upgrade the guidance and control sections for its laser-guided Maverick system, and an improved missile, designated the AGM-65E2, should be delivered within the next 20 to 24 months under a new US Air Force contract. The AGM-65E comes with either a 68kg (150lb) shaped charge warhead for armoured or hardened targets or a 137kg blast/fragmentation warhead.
Although the air force allowed its inventory of laser-guided Mavericks to dwindle, the missile's relatively low-yield effect and extreme accuracy has again made it popular as a close air support weapon, says Mark Larson, a Raytheon business development manager.
As demand increased, Raytheon first facilitated the transfer of US Navy AGM-65Es to the USAF fleet, Larson says. However, the USAF ultimately decided to restart production, replacing obsolete guidance and control components for about 450 Mavericks with upgraded parts.
But the new order should not reduce demand for the AGM-65E's long-awaited replacement - the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM), Raytheon says. The two programmes are based on very different requirements, so "it's really an apples to oranges comparison", the company adds.
JAGM is now in competition between a Boeing/Raytheon and a Lockheed Martin team. In addition to a semi-active laser seeker, the JAGM can also be guided by a global positioning/inertial navigation system antenna and a millimetre-wave radar, allowing it to strike moving targets in any weather.
The requirement for JAGM also increases the range of the weapon to 45km (24.3nm) after firing from a fixed-wing aircraft, compared with about 24.1km for the AGM-65, says Raytheon.
Source: Flight International