ATK‘s [ATK], Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) recently completed an initial flight integration test on the EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft and has completed multiple flight hours of integration testing on FA-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft, the company said.
This series of captive-carry tests is part of the process to validate the compatibility of AARGM with these platforms and allow all U.S. Navy strike aircraft to use AARGM’s defense suppression capability. AARGM is expected to complete the Navy’s Operational Test Readiness Review and transition into initial operational test and evaluation later this year.
AARGM, an upgrade to the Navy’s AGM-88 HARM system, is a U.S. and Italian international cooperative major acquisition program with the Navy as the executive agent. “AARGM is designed to dramatically increase the effectiveness of U.S. Navy and Italian Air Force capability to suppress and destroy enemy air defense threats. AARGM’s multi-spectral seeker and advanced control section can detect, locate, guide to, and engage both fixed and mobile enemy air defense units,” said Capt. Brian Corey, PMA 242 Program Manager for Direct & Time Sensitive Strike Weapons.
The integration flights supported development testing of new aircraft software for the FA-18E/F and EA-18G aircraft, and were conducted in parallel with the ongoing AARGM Integrated Test & Evaluation (IT&E) phase on the FA-18 C/D aircraft.
AARGM provides the warfighter with a supersonic, air-launched tactical missile to be carried on the FA-18C/D, FA-18E/F, EA-18G and Tornado ECR aircraft. The missile is also designed for compatibility with the F-35 Lightning II, EA-6B Prowler and U.S. and Allied F-16 aircraft. The progress is part of a Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) contract with the U.S. Navy of the AARGM program for both U.S. Navy and Italian Air Force missiles.