The US Department of Defense (DoD) has granted a $1.1bn multinational deal on 11 September 2024, for Raytheon, an RTX business, to supply allied nations with more Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM).

This contract involves Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to Bahrain, Bulgaria, Canada, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, the UK and Ukraine. Approximately $603m will come collectively from the FMS partner nations.

Notably, this new contract will confer another increment of missiles, designated Lot 38. The previous Lot 37 – which are due to be produced by January 2027 – was granted in June last year at a similar cost.

Meanwhile, the latest work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by 31 December 2028.

What is an AMRAAM?

Designated the AIM-120, AMRAAMs are a new generation, all-weather missile that has been delivered to 36 countries. It first entered service more than 30-years ago.

It can be integrated onto combat aircraft such as the F-15, F-16, F/A-18, F-22, Typhoon, Gripen, Tornado, Harrier, F-4, and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Though, users can also integrate the missile with the NASAMS (Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile System).

On the whole, their air forces operate F-16s, F-35s, Tornadoes, Gripen among others.

What is worth nothing, however, is that the Bulgarian Air Force mainly operates Russian-made MiGs – some of these multi-role fighters go back to the 1980s. Neverthless, the sevrice does fly 13 Gripen fighters.

AMRAAM has a length of 3.6 metres, diameter of 17.7 centremetres (cm), and wingspan of 52.5cm. The launch weight of the missile is 150.7 kilorammes (kg). It can carry an 18.1kg high-explosive blast fragmentation warhead to a maximum range of between 20-30 nautical miles.

It can receive information about the location of the target from the aircraft before its launch. The onboard active radar with inertial navigation system makes the missile less dependent on the aircraft’s fire control radar and integrates a datalink to guide the missile.

Once the missile closes to self-homing distance, the active radar guides it towards the target. This feature provides fire-and-forget capability to the missile and allows the pilot to fire a number of missiles simultaneously at multiple targets.