Raytheon Company, a technology and innovation leader specialising in defence, security and civil markets, has begun development on an extended range variant of the combat-proven Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile (Amraam).

The new missile being designed specifically for ground-based air defence, Amraam-ER will enable intercepts at longer range and higher altitudes, said a statement.

Mike Jarrett, vice president of Raytheon Air Warfare Systems, said: “With Amraam-ER, Raytheon is rewriting the book on ground-based air defence. The new missile will be even faster and more manoeuvrable than the current Amraam.”

“By leveraging many existing Amraam components, Raytheon can deliver Amraam-ER quickly and affordably with very low risk,” he added.

Raytheon will integrate Amraam-ER into the Nasams launcher, it added.

Nasams is the latest and most modern medium range air defence system. In partnership with Kongsberg, Raytheon has delivered more than 70 fire units to seven countries. It is the most commonly used Short and Medium Range Air Defence System in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

Ralph Acaba, vice president of Integrated Air and Missile Defence at Raytheon's Integrated Defence Systems business, said: “Combined with the Nasams launcher, Amraam-ER will provide a new level of protection to customers.”

"Nasams is one of the most easily manned, trained, and maintained systems in the world,” he added.

Fielded in Norway for more than a decade, Nasams is operationally deployed in the US National Capital Region, Spain, Finland, the Netherlands, and an undisclosed country. It is also in production for Oman under a contract received last year.

Raytheon plans to flight test Amraam-ER before the end of the year, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service