Aircraft with Raytheon systems include F-35, F-22, F/A-18, F-16, EA-18G, F-15, JAS-39 Gripen and Eurofighter Typhoon.
“I can’t think of a single Western-allied fighter that does not have some sort of Raytheon product on it” said Tom Copeman, vice president of business development for Raytheon’s Air Warfare Systems.
“Our products allow the United States Air Force and United States Navy, even in this anti-access world that we read about every day … it gives them the upper hand on potential adversaries to achieve air dominance at the time and place of their choosing.”
According to a press release received today, Raytheon is working to equip F-35 and older aircraft with more advanced munitions. According to the release, those precision weapons include:
- The Small Diameter Bomb II, a winged weapon that glides more than 40 miles and can autonomously detect and classify moving targets in any weather conditions. Raytheon and the U.S. Air Force have completed rigorous wind-tunnel tests on SDB II, which is also slated for the F-15E, F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet and all variants of the F-35.
- Enhanced Paveway II, a precision munition that uses laser and GPS guidance to hit moving and fast targets. Aircraft that use Paveway include the F-16, F/A-18, F-15, Gripen and Typhoon.
- AIM-120D AMRAAM, the newest air-to-air weapon in the U.S. arsenal. The updated variant has increased range, GPS-aided navigation and a two-way data link.
- AIM-9X Sidewinder, the first short-range air-to-air missile to be used on the F-35. The U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy and Raytheon successfully test-fired an AIM-9X Block I missile at an airborne target from the F-35A.
Dan “Dagwood” Darnell, a former U.S. Air Force F-16 pilot who now works at Raytheon said according to the statement:
“Their ability to be equally upgraded and modified to carry AIM-120Ds or AIM-9X Block IIs exponentially increases the amount of battlespace that they can effectively control because the weapons that they carry are so much superior than their predecessors.”
