America Is "Close to Maxing Out" Its Deadly AIM-120 AMRAAM Missile

Dave Majumdar

Security, United States

What comes after the venerable "Slammer"?

Even as the Defense Department starts fielding the new Raytheon AIM-120D version of the venerable AMRAAM, the United States doesn’t have any concrete plans for a follow-on next-generation missile. However, the U.S. Navy believes that it is possible to coax additional performance out of the AIM-120D with new software upgrades which might help the missile overcome enemy jamming and extend its range.

“Currently there is no program of record for a follow-on,” said Capt. Jim Stoneman, the Naval Air Systems Command program manager for air-to-air missiles during the Navy League Sea, Air and Space symposium in National Harbor, Maryland. But Stoneman said that there is fair bit that the Navy can do to upgrade the D-model AMRAAM with enhanced software.

The Pentagon is doing some technology development work towards a new missile, but Stoneman acknowledged the AMRAAM is nearing the end of its development cycle. The weapon still uses the same missile body and rocket motor—and relies on a mechanically-scanned active radar seeker that operates in the X-band. “They’re always doing technology development,” Stoneman told The National Interest after his briefing. “We’ve probably close to maxing it out.”

Nonetheless, the AIM-120D is currently operational and is bringing “game-changing” capability to the fleet, Stoneman said. The missile offers greatly enhanced performance compared to older versions of the AMRAAM because of a new datalink and a new GPS system, which allows the weapon to follow a more precise path. The range advantage—despite the lack of new missile body or rocket motor—is enormous.

The Navy is currently working on software upgrades to enhance the missile’s resistance to enemy jamming, Stoneman said. The service has also added a home-on-jam capability to help deal with some of the advance jamming capability that is being fielded by potential adversaries, Stoneman said.