Raytheon has won a $412 million contract to provide hundreds of advanced medium range air-to-air missiles to the Air Force and foreign partners, the Department of Defense announced May 28. Under the terms of the deal, the company will supply 98 AMRAAM AIM-120D missiles to USAF, along with associated training, test, and support equipment, and 213 AIM-120C-7 foreign military sales models and associated equipment to undisclosed nations. As of February, Congress had approved C-7 sales to Greece and Taiwan. The D model is said to have increased jam resistance in the face of adversary electronic attack systems as well as a two-way datalink and GPS-aided navigation.
When Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Air Force Gen. Dan Caine described the 150 aircraft used in Operation Absolute Resolve, the mission to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, he referenced many by name, including the F-35 and F-22 fighters and B-1 bomber. Not specified, however, were “remotely piloted drones,” among them a secretive aircraft spotted and photographed returning to Puerto…
