WHITE SANDS, N.M., March 28 (UPI) -- U.S. company Raytheon said Thursday a new air-to-air missile variant destroyed a target drone in a recent test.
The company said in a statement Thursday that its AIM-120D Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile -- AMRAAM -- was test-fired at White Sands Missile testing Range on Feb. 13 and hit its target unmanned drone.
The AIM-120D AMRAAM was shot from a U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter aircraft from the Navy's VX-31 squadron, and it located and destroyed a QF-4 target drone, achieving all its primary test objectives, the company said.
"By putting the AIM-120 through these rigorous tests, the U.S. government and Raytheon are ensuring the war fighter receives a state-of-the art weapon system unparalleled in performance and reliability," said Brock McCaman, vice president of Raytheon Missile Systems' Air-to-Air product line.
Raytheon said work on producing and upgrading the AMRAAM was carried out by the company, the U.S. Air Force's Air Armament Center and the U.S. Navy. It described the AIM-120D as going through its system design and development phase at the moment.
"The AIM-120D builds on the combat proven AMRAAM by adding an enhanced electronic protection suite, two-way data link, and GPS-aided navigation," said Judy Stokley, U.S. Air Force deputy program executive officer for Weapons.
"When the missile reaches initial operating capability, our war fighters will have a beyond visual range missile with unparalleled capability in our quest for air dominance," Stokley said.
