By Marina Malenic
The prime contractor for a next-generation Army short-range air defense program is preparing to propose integration of a lower-cost alternative interceptor missile into the system to save it from termination.
According to sources and documents, the Army has recommended that the Pentagon cancel acquisition plans for the Surface-Launched Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (SLAMRAAM) program. Raytheon [RTN] officials at the Association of the United States Army’s annual meeting and exposition in Washington said they are planning to offer the Army a fixed-price proposal for integration of the AIM-9X Sidewinder onto SLAMRAAM to reduce the system’s price tag.
The cost of an AIM-9X is “about a quarter of the price” of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, or AMRAAM, currently in use on SLAMRAAM, said John Vaughn, business development manager for Raytheon integrated defense systems.
“What AIM-9X integration would enable the Army to do is to buy a mix of both missiles for use against a range of threats at a lower total price,” Vaughn told sister publication Defense Daily recently.
According to budget documents, the Army has spent $285.1 million for SLAMRAAM research and development and $70.7 million for procurement through Fiscal 2010.
“If you consider the whole investment of the program, integration of AIM-9X will cost less than a quarter of that,” Vaughn said.
He acknowledged that the Army appears to be backing away from the program. However, he argued, the threat from cruise missiles is growing by most accounts.
“What we’re hearing out of the building is some of the support decreasing for the system based on a threat assessment that says cruise missiles haven’t been proliferating,” he said. “But everything that we’re reading says the opposite, that the threat [from cruise missiles] has been increasing.”
Vaughn said the Army’s only existing alternative to SLAMRAAM is a pricey one.
“If you consider what the alternatives are for the Army–[Patriot Advanced Capability] PAC-3 missiles, which are running about $3.5 million per copy–what you have here in the hundreds of thousands range is much more cost-effective,” he said.
Cuts to the Army’s air and missile defense portfolio are expected following the completion of a key study. The service is conducting a series of “capability portfolio reviews,” led by Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the vice chief of staff. While the air and missile defense portfolio review is still under way, officials told Defense Daily that the service has decided to spend $12 billion on all of its air and missile defense programs over the course of the next five years.
Earlier this year, the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) was chosen as the new platform for the SLAMRAAM system to increase survivability. The trucks provide additional armored capability and are more ruggedized to support the SLAMRAAM mission in more difficult terrain. Originally intended for integration onto Humvees, the Army decided last summer to move the system to the heavy, six-wheeled FMTVs.
“This was based on lessons learned from the war,” said Vaughn. “The Army really needed increased survivability for the crew.”