The Navy approved Raytheon’s [RTN] Rolling Airframe Missile Block 2 on Jan. 19 to proceed to Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP), according to a service spokeswoman.
In addition to being green-lighted to proceed to LRIP, the RAM Block 2 successfully completed two guided test vehicle flights in one week, on Dec. 6 and Dec. 12, when the usual time frame for a test similar to this is a “few months,” Raytheon RAM Block 2 Program Manager Walt Rogers told Defense Daily in a phone interview last week.
Rogers said the tests usually take a few months because the company interprets the data received and makes sure it “has success for the right reasons.”
“To be able to do that in a one-week period tells us very clearly we had a success,” Rogers said. “We looked through the data on the first flight test, saw there wasn’t need for changes and we were comfortable with the hardware we pre-built up and prepared for the second test.”
Rogers said the first flight test was a Controlled Test Vehicles test, where the company tested the new airframe and weapon systems without any seekers or targets. The last two flight tests involved fully-guided systems, the infrared seeker and the radio frequency receiver.
The third, and final, flight test under the development contract will take place later and will conclude the development contract, according to a Raytheon spokeswoman. Rogers said the company does not have the contract yet, but that is expected later this year.
Raytheon is building 35 RAM Block 2 missiles during the design and development test period. The RAM Block 2 provides defense against anti-ship cruise missiles, helicopter and airborne threats and hostile surface craft, according to a company statement. Rogers said the program is a cooperative venture among the U.S Navy, German Navy and the Germany-based RAMSYS. Development and production work is shared among Raytheon in the United States and German companies LFK, DBD and RAMSYS, according to a Raytheon spokeswoman.