Navy asks RTX Raytheon for infrared-guided air-to-air missiles compatible with helmet-mounted displays
PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. – U.S. Navy aerial warfare experts are asking RTX Corp. to build more than 1,200 AIM-9X precision short-range infrared-guided air-to-air missiles for jet fighters and other combat aircraft under terms of a $736.6 million five-year contract announced in September.
Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., are asking the RTX Raytheon segment in Tucson, Ariz., to build lot 24 AIM-9X block II and block II-plus air-to-air missiles for the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Army, and foreign allies.
The order is for AIM-9X Block II and II-plus tactical missiles; captive air training missiles; special air training missiles; captive test missiles; missile containers; spare advanced optical target detectors; guidance units and containers; propulsion steering sections; dummy air test missiles; training missiles; tail caps and containers; and related equipment.
The AIM-9X is an infrared-guided heat-seeking missile that equips most jet fighters, fighter-bombers, and other offensive combat aircraft in the U.S. arsenal, and is for shooting down enemy aircraft close-by. The AIM-9X works by homing in on an enemy aircraft's hot engine exhaust. Variants of the AIM-9 Sidewinder have been deployed since the 1950s.
The AIM-9X is among the latest versions of the AIM-9 missile family. It entered service in 2003 on the Navy F/A-18C Hornet fighter-bomber and on the U.S. Air Force F-15C jet fighter. It has an imaging infrared focal plane array seeker with 90-degree off-boresight capability for accuracy.
The missile is compatible with helmet-mounted displays such as the U.S. Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System, and features 3-D thrust-vectoring control for increased turn capability. The AIM-9X also includes an internal cooling system.
This contract involves the latest versions of the AIM-9X, called the AIM-9X Block II and AIM-9X Block II-plus. This newest version has lock-on after launch capability for use with the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter and the F-22 Raptor advanced tactical fighter.
The AIM-9X Block II-plus features specialized external materials to enhance aircraft survivability for the F-35. Until another version of the AIM-9X is developed that will fit inside the F-35's enclosed weapons bay, the AIM-9X Block II-plus has stealthy coatings and structures to help reduce the missile's radar cross-section when the F-35 carries these missiles externally.
On this contract Raytheon will do the work in Tucson, Ariz.; North Logan, Utah; Niles, Ill.; Keyser, W.Va.; Hillsboro, Or; Midland, Ontario; Heilbronn, Germany; Goleta, Anaheim, Murrieta, Valencia, San Diego, and San Jose, Calif.; Simsbury, Conn.; Minneapolis; Kalispell, Mont; St. Albans, Vt.; Anniston, Ala.; Cincinnati; and other locations, and should be finished by July 2029.
For more information contact RTX Raytheon online at www.rtx.com/raytheon/what-we-do/sea/aim-9x-sidewinder-missile, or Naval Air Systems Command at www.navair.navy.mil.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
