Related Stories: Americas - USA, Contracts - Awards, Missiles - Precision Attack, Raytheon, Support & Maintenance, Warfare - Lessons
(click to view full)
The Air Force is awarding a firm-fixed-price contract to Raytheon in Tucson, AZ for $16.3 million. This action will provide AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile Targeting Systems Contractor Logistics Support. Service will be provided for a basic year and 2 one-year options. At this time, $2.8 million has been obligated by the 693 ARSS/PK at Eglin Air Force Base, FL (FA8675-09-C-0003).
The AGM-88 HARM missile is designed to find enemy radar installations up to 150 km/ 90 miles away, and destroy them by homing in on their emissions. It was first introduced in 1983, and upgraded versions remain the mainstay of the SEAD role among American and allied airpower. Radar shutdowns and clever tactics can allow enemy air defenses to survive, as a Serbian SA-3 battery proved with the 1999 destruction of a USAF F-117 stealth fighter. The sword of deception always cuts both ways, however – a RAND study reveals that during the 1991 Operation Desert Storm, aircraft targeted by Iraqi radars could sometimes convince the radars to power off and stop targeting them by issuing a simple “Magnum” (HARM launch) call on the radio.
