Navy asks Orbital ATK to upgrade embedded computing components in AARGM radar-killing missile
PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. – Missile experts at Orbital ATK will upgrade embedded computing components of the radar-killing AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) that equips the service's carrier-based fighter-bombers and electronic warfare jets.
Officials of the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., announced a $9.5 million order to the Orbital ATK Defense Electronic Systems segment Tuesday to design and qualify AARGM sensors embedded computing components to help mitigate existing missile cost and production issues, Navy officials say.
Orbital ATK experts will build the executive processor circuit card assembly for the AARGM's advanced digital anti-radiation homing (ARH) sensor and its millimeter wave (MMW) radar terminal seeker under terms of this delivery order.
AARGM is a supersonic, medium-range, air-launched tactical missile compatible with U.S. and allied strike aircraft. The AGM-88E AARGM is the latest version of the U.S. AGM-88 High Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) system.
Related: Orbital ATK to upgrade 230 AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) systems
Orbital ATK upgrades will result in form, fit, and functional replacement of the existing AARGM ARH and millimeter-wave radar in support Naval Air Systems Command's Direct and Time Sensitive Strike program office.
This non-recurring engineering effort will mitigate existing cost and production issues with the existing AARGM ARH and MMW, as well as incorporate hardware for future expansion, Navy officials say.
AARGM provides the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and Italian air force with a weapon system for engaging and destroying enemy air defenses and time-critical, mobile targets. The AARGM also has precise Global Positioning System (GPS)/inertial navigation system (INS) guidance and network-centric connectivity.
The AARGM offers advanced signal processing and improved frequency coverage, detection range, and field of view, compared to earlier versions of the HARM system. It has time-critical standoff strike with supersonic GPS/INS point-to-point or point-to-millimeter-wave-terminal guidance.
Related: HARM anti-radar missile moves ahead with planned upgrade to dual-mode seeker
It also has missile impact zone control to prevent collateral damage through tightly coupled, digital terrain elevation database-aided GPS/INS, as well as counter-emitter shutdown through active millimeter-wave-radar terminal guidance.
On this order Orbital ATK will do the work Work will be performed in Northridge, Monterey, and Moorpark, Calif., and should be finished by August 2020.
For more information contact Orbital ATK Defense Electronic Systems online at www.orbitalatk.com/defense-systems/defense-electronic-systems, or Naval Air Systems Command at www.navair.navy.mil.
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John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
