Raytheon tests air missile with ground system

Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems said it has for the first time fired a modified version of one of its main air-to-air missiles with a surface-based launch system co-developed with a Norwegian company.

Raytheon said in the recent test of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, developed with Norway-based Kongsberg, an extended-range version of Raytheon’s Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile hit and destroyed a target drone at Norway’s Andoya Space Center.

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With a larger rocket motor and other improvements, the new AMRAAM version will boost the system’s effective range by 50 percent and allow a 70 percent increase in maximum altitude.

Designed specifically for ground-based air defense, NASAMS is used by seven countries and has been used by the U.S. National Capital Region's air defense system since 2005.