Navy’s Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile – Extended Range entering production

The Navy’s Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile – Extended Range program is moving into low-rate initial production after receiving milestone C approval Monday.

The Navy plans to award the first two AARGM-ER low-rate initial production lots in coming months, the service said in a press release. Northrop Grumman is the program’s prime contractor.

The AARGM-ER is an air-launched missile that is an upgrade to the AGM-88E AARGM program. The Navy plans to integrate the AARGM-ER on the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G aircraft, and the missile is compatible with the F-35.

The program completed its first live fire event in July, launching from an F/A-18. The AARGM-ER met all planned test objectives in the first of a series of development tests.

“The live fire test validated the overall system integration, performance of the rocket motor and the start of modeling and simulation validation,” the Navy said in a July press release.

The service plans to continue live first flight testing through 2022, with initial operational capability planned for 2023.