Fri, Jul 23, 2004
Fourth country
purchases latest version of Raytheon missile, 5,000 unit production
run estimated
The government of Denmark and the U.S. Navy have formally
executed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) paving the way for
the manufacture and delivery of the AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air
missile system to the Royal Danish Air Force.
The LOA was signed in June 2004 in Denmark. Denmark is the
fourth country to purchase the latest version of the proven AIM-9
Sidewinder missile family. The Republic of South Korea, Poland and
Switzerland have also agreed to purchase the missile to arm their
frontline fighter aircraft.
"We are delighted that the Royal Danish Air Force will be armed
with the world's finest short range air-to-air missile, the
AIM-9X," said U.S. Navy Capt. Scott Stewart, the Naval Air Systems
Command program manager for air-to-air missile systems.
"Equipping our allied war fighters with this exceptional missile
will ensure allied counterair supremacy and mission success while
continuing to strengthen critical interoperability."
The AIM-9X is a fifth
generation short range missile that achieved initial operational
capability with the U.S. Air Force in November 2003. The
missile employs a staring focal plane array seeker head with an
extremely high off-boresight acquisition capability that
significantly increases target acquisition ranges against all forms
of background clutter. The AIM-9X is unparalleled in its
ability to defeat targets employing infra-red counter-measure
techniques.
The combination of the seeker's high off-boresight capability
and rocket motor thrust vectoring via jet vane control produces an
extremely agile missile with revolutionary dogfight ability.
An 18-year production run is planned, producing more than 10,000
missiles for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and an
additional 5,000 missiles for the international market.
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