The Air Force said Friday it awarded Raytheon [RTN] a $534.8 million firm-fixed-price contract for production lot 27 of the company’s Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM).
Lot 27 production is expected to be completed by Jan. 31, 2016. Fifty-one percent of the production effort is Foreign Military Sales (FMS), including AIM-120 C7s for Oman and Saudi Arabia. The contract award is also a sole source acquisition.
The contract award is another round of good news for Raytheon after it struggled with AMRAAM deliveries for a period of time. Raytheon said last week in a statement it continues to exceed renegotiated delivery schedule requirements of the AMRAAM following the renewal of contract payments in December, a successful live-fire test and certification of a second rocket motor source.
The Air Force in February 2012 suspended $621 million in payments to Raytheon due to late deliveries caused by faulty rocket motors provided by ATK [ATK]. Raytheon then enlisted Norwegian manufacturer Nammo as a second source of rocket motors (Defense Daily, Jan. 3). Raytheon and Nammo originally began development and qualification of an AMRAAM alternative rocket motor in 2010.
The Air Force’s F-35A conventional variant completed the first in-flight missile launch with an AIM-120 C5 AMRAAM, in early June (Defense Daily, June 10).