ATK
Delivers 100th Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) to U.S.
Navy
ATK
reached a significant achievement on the path to Advanced Anti-Radiation
Guided Missile (AARGM) Full Operational Capability (FOC) with delivery
of the 100th AARGM to the U.S. Navy. Elected officials and U.S. Navy
leaders attended a commemoration ceremony at the ATK Ridgecrest California
Production facility in honor of the milestone. Attendees included 23rd
Congressional District U.S. Representative Kevin McCarthy, Program Executive
Officer for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons RDML Mathias Winter,
Naval Air Warfare Center-Weapons Division Executive Director Scott O'Neil,
and other U.S. Navy senior executives and local elected officials.
The AARGM is test fired from an F/A-18D at China Lake, Calif. in June
2012.
(U.S. Navy photo)
AARGM achieved Initial Operational Capability in
July 2012 and has been in Full Rate Production since August 2012. The
program is on schedule and on budget, and is planned to achieve FOC
in September 2014.
"This is a very special milestone for ATK as it marks significant
progress in fielding this much-needed capability for the warfighter,"
said Bill Kasting, vice president and general manager for ATK's Defense
Electronic Systems division. "Our success would not have been possible
without the strong support and steadfast dedication of the U.S. Navy,
Italian Air Force and our industry partners, and we continue to focus
on delivering AARGM's game-changing capabilities."
(U.S. Navy video)
AARGM is a supersonic, air-launched tactical missile
system, upgrading legacy AGM-88 High Speed Anti-Radiation Missile systems
with advanced capability to perform Destruction of Enemy Air Defense
missions. AARGM is able to rapidly engage traditional and advanced land-
and sea-based air-defense threats, as well as non-radar time-sensitive
strike targets. Leveraging a digital receiver set, global positioning
system/inertial navigation system guidance, digital terrain data base
and the game-changing millimeter wave terminal guidance seeker, AARGM
provides the most advanced system that can also provide pilots with
in-cockpit, real-time electronic order of battle situational awareness
against today's modern surface-to-air threats.
AARGM is a U.S. Navy and Italian Air Force international cooperative
major acquisition program with the U.S. Navy as the executive agent.
AARGM is currently deployed on U.S. FA-18C/D Hornet aircraft, and is
being integrated for use on the U.S. Navy's EA-18G Growler and FA-18
E/F Super Hornet aircraft, as well as the Italian Air Force's Tornado
ECR aircraft. The missile is also compatible with the F-35, EA-6B, allied
FA-18s, and U.S. and allied F-16s.
