Raytheon to design laser guidance and control section of laser-guided Maverick air-to-ground missile
May 10, 2010
TUCSON, Ariz., 10 May 2010.Munitions guidance experts at the Raytheon Co. Missile Systems segment in Tucson, Ariz., are developing the laser guidance and control section of the newest variant of the Maverick air-to-ground tactical missile -- the AGM-65E2/L -- under terms of a $34.4 million U.S. Air Force contract announced today.
Raytheon engineers will give the laser-guided Maverick an enhanced laser seeker and software to reduce the risk of collateral damage and enabling aircraft pilots to use onboard aircraft lasers to designate targets for Maverick. The AGM-65E2 is the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps variant of the laser-guided Maverick, while the AGM-65L is the U.S. Air Force variant.
The Maverick missile is designed for close air support against tactical targets such as armored vehicles, air defenses, surface ships, ground transportation vehicles, and fuel storage facilities. Maverick has two types of warheads -- one has a contact fuze in the nose, the other has a heavyweight warhead fitted with a delayed-action fuze, which penetrates the target with its kinetic energy before detonating.
The laser-guided Maverick will ride laser beams from either the host aircraft, other aircraft in the area, or from laser ground-based laser designators to their intended targets.
"The laser-guided Maverick is an weapon for urban combat and high-speed maneuvering targets," says Harry Schulte, vice president of Raytheon Missile System's Air Warfare Systems product line. "The combat-proven Maverick is integrated on more than 25 aircraft in 33 nations, and we hope to have the newest addition to the Maverick family available for export soon."
For more information contact Raytheon Missile Systems online at www.raytheon.com/businesses/rms.
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.
