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.
As the threat of Iranian-made drones grew, the Air Force rushed last year to equip F-15E Strike Eagles in the Middle East with a cheap, cost-effective way of defeating them. The service fielded the new capability in roughly a week.
