The Drive:
The U.S. Navy has hired Orbital ATK, now part of Northrop Grumman, to begin formal development of a new missile that can suppress and destroy enemy air defense emitters, known as the the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile-Extended Range, or AARGM-ER. The new weapon will give the service’s carrier air wings more freedom to operate in areas full of integrated defense networks and will be an essential capability for its future F-35C Joint Strike Fighters, as well as one that will almost certainly find its way onto the USAF’s F-35A fleet, and even on other platforms.
OrbitalATK announced it had secured the deal, without disclosing the value of the contract, in a press release on Jan. 24, 2018. The Navy describes the weapon as an update of the existing AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) and asked for more than $180 million for the “modification” program in its budget request for the 2018 fiscal year. The service has been actively working on developing requirements for the follow-on AARGM-ER since at least 2015
