The quality of the AMRAAM missiles delivered to the U.S. Air Force is “fine,” according to the service's top aquisition official, but the weapons can't be produced in quantity due to a high rejection rate for the rocket motors being built. (Raytheon)
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The Pentagon has slowed down its purchases of the new AIM-120D version of the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) because of problems with producing its rocket motors, the U.S. Air Force’s top acquisition official said.
“They’re behind on the delivery of the missile,” David Van Buren said Feb. 14 of the Raytheon-produced system. “There are problems with the motor.”
Van Buren was speaking to reporters after his speech at a defense conference in Arlington, Va. The Air Force has reduced the number of missiles it is buying to 113 units, down from 138 the year before. Overall, the Pentagon plans to spend $423 million on continued production of the active radar-guided AIM-120D for a total of 180 missiles, including Navy and Marine Corps buys.
Van Buren said the quality of the missiles that have been delivered is “fine,” but the weapons can’t be produced in quantity due to a high rejection rate for the rocket motors being built.
“I wouldn’t characterize it as a defect, I would characterize it as a through-put issue,” he said. “The through-put of acceptable motors is not meeting production schedules.”
But the Pentagon must have the new AMRAAM variant.
“The AMRAAM is a critical part of the air-to-air mission,” Van Buren said.
The next-generation Joint Dual-Role Air Dominance Missile, which would have replaced both the AMRAAM and the AGM-88 High Speed Anti-Radiation missile, which is used to suppress enemy air defenses, has been terminated because it was unaffordable.
