USA: Alliant Techsystems Operations LLC awarded contract for AARGM.

Alliant Techsystems Operations LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Inc., Northridge, California, is being awarded a $167,338,657 firm-fixed-price contract for 263 full-rate production Lot 8 Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missiles (AARGM).

Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) (Picture source: Northrop Grumman)

This contract provides for conversion of U.S. government-provided AGM-88B High Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles into 260 AGM-88E AARGM all-up-rounds and 3 Captive Air Training Missiles, including supplies and services required for manufacture, spares, and fleet deployment. Work will be performed in Northridge, California (80%); and Ridgecrest, California (20%), and is expected to be completed in March 2022.

AARGM is a supersonic, medium-range, air-launched tactical missile compatible with U.S. and allied strike aircraft, including all variants of the F/A-18, Tornado, EA-18G, F-16, EA-6B, and F-35 (external).

Designed to upgrade the AGM-88 High-Speed, Anti-Radiation Missile system (HARM), AARGM features an advanced, digital, anti-radiation homing sensor, millimeter wave (MMW) radar terminal seeker, precise Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System (GPS/INS) guidance, net-centric connectivity, and Weapon Impact Assessment transmit (WIA). Missile Impact Transmitter capability is available for approved customers. The missile offers extended-range engagement, as well as organic, in-cockpit emitter targeting capability and situational awareness.

New capabilities for the warfighter include:

• - Anti-radar strike with advanced signal processing and vastly improved frequency coverage, detection range and field of view
• - Time-critical, standoff strike with supersonic GPS/INS point-to-point or point-to-MMW-terminal guidance
• - Missile-impact zone control to prevent collateral damage through tightly coupled, Digital Terrain Elevation Database-aided GPS/INS
• - Counter-emitter shutdown through active MMW-radar terminal guidance
• - WIA transmission prior-to-impact for bomb damage assessment