Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems has begun development of an extended-range version of its Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile specifically for ground-based air defense.
The new version, called the AMRAAM-Extended Range, is designed for use with the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS), also known as the Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, which Raytheon developed with its Norwegian development partner Kongsberg.
The AMRAAM-ER will enable intercepts at longer range and higher altitudes, Raytheon announced during the International Defence Exhibition and Conference, or IDEX, a major defense trade show in Abu Dhabi this week.
Plans call for the AMRAAM-ER to be flight-tested before the end of the year, Raytheon said.
Fielded in Norway for more than a decade, NASAMS is operationally deployed in the U.S. National Capital Region, as well as in Spain, Finland, the Netherlands, and in an undisclosed country. It is also in production for Oman, under a contract received last year.
