A McDONNELL Douglas/ Hughes team is poised to receive a $25 million US Air Force contract to test advanced flight controls for a dual-range air-to-air missile under the Air Superiority Missile Technology (ASMT) programme.
Raytheon, meanwhile, has received a $600,000 contract to study even more advanced concepts under the Advanced Airbreathing Dual Range Missile (AARDM) programme.
The five-year ASMT programme will include flight tests of the Hughes AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, modified to demonstrate hybrid reaction-jet/tail-fin control, according to Jeff Jones, Dual Range Missile integrated product team leader at the USAF's Wright Laboratory Armament Directorate.
The ASMT project is aimed at demonstrating technologies for a dual-range missile to enter service around 2010, he says, while the 36-month AARMD effort is looking further ahead, to about 2025.
Raytheon will conduct "clean-sheet" trade studies into advanced-propulsion, aerodynamic materials and seeker technologies and conduct windtunnel tests on a subscale model of an advanced missile.
Source: Flight International
