Tim Ripley
As the race to win the UK's billion dollar beyond-visual-range missile contest enters its final stages, US missile giant Raytheon has claimed that sales of the Eurofighter will be boosted by the selection its new Future Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (FMRAAM).
"Any other solution represents a dangerous gamble with the export success of Eurofighter," says Andy Head, director of marketing and defence systems at Raytheon's UK-based subsidiary.
Raytheon is striking back at claims by European rival Matra BAe Dynamics that the selection of FMRAAM would effectively give the US Congress a veto on export sales of the Eurofighter, by preventing the aircraft being made available to customers with an advanced beyond-visual-range weapon system.
"There was greater risk of potential customers turning away from Eurofighter if [its makers] are not able to use a missile based on our proven Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM)," says Head.
Weapons
"Eurofighter will not sell without a suite of weapons that includes AMRAAM-based missiles. Eurofighter customers will demand it. Which would you stake your job on?"
Raytheon is offering the UK the FMRAAM, which is a ramjet powered derivative of the AIM-120 AMRAAM.
It is also proposing two interim solutions, the AIM-120B+ and the improved Extended Range Air-to-Air Missile (ERAAM) variant to fill the gap in the Eurofighter's armoury until the full-up FMRAAM is ready for service in 2007.
"Today AMRAAM rules the skies - the pilots of Eurofighter deserve the best beyond-visual range missile," says Jerry Lockard, vice-president of missile systems at Raytheon Systems.
Key US government figures and organisations had also given assurances that they would not try to tilt any future fighter contests in the favour of US bidders by preventing the export of FMRAAM based weapons, says Head.
US Defence Secretary William Cohen and the US State Department had both written letters to the UK Defence Secretary George Robertson promising "level playing fields".
Head says many potential Eurofighter customers were already users of Raytheon missiles and would wish to continue as such.
He singles out Norway, a hot prospect for Eurofighter sales, as the largest single user of AMRAAMs outside the USA.
"The bulk of AMRAAM users around the world will want the ability to swap missiles between aircraft so they can save money on their logistic base," says Head.
Deciding
"This will be a deciding factor. Our weapon will give true interoperability, which is important for the types of operations that allied nations are going to conduct in the future.
"The Eurofighter was designed from the start to carry the AMRAAM; its fuselage is scooped out for the missile; the radar and electronics are designed to work with the AMRAAM," says Head.
Source: Flight Daily News
