Raytheon, Air Force, and Navy testers recently completed operational test and evaluation of the latest Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) variant, paving the way for its initial operational capability, the company announced. “The AIM-120D represents a significant improvement in air-to-air weapons capabilities and the technologies it brings to the battlefield … in the air-to-air arena,” company program director Ron Krebs said in an? April 9 release. The missile performed outstandingly in a variety of challenging air-to-air scenarios across the spectrum of flight profiles, leading the Air Force to clear it for operational use, according to Raytheon. The Navy already declared AIM-120D IOC and plans to deploy the missile this year. The AIM-120D variant offers improved range, GPS-assisted guidance, updated datalinks, and jam resistance, in addition to greater lethality. Operational testing resumed in 2013 after earlier software and hardware glitches were addressed.
The use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border this week—which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to abruptly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas—will be a “case study” on the complex web of authorities needed to employ such weapons near civilian areas and the consequences of agencies…
