Raytheon has offered the first peek into the company's approach to designing a next generation missile to replace both the AIM-120 AMRAAM and AGM-88 HARM.
For the first time, the company has displayed a full-scale mock-up of one of several candidates being considered for the emerging US Air Force requirement for a dual role air dominance missile (DRADM).
The design shown at the Air Warfare Sympsoium on 16-17 February features an AMRAAM-like missile body integrated with what appears to be a variable flow ducted rocket (VFDR), or ramjet.
In 2004, Raytheon commissioned Aerojet to demonstrate a VFDR propulsion system on an AMRAAM for a contract sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory. Raytheon acknowledges the influence of the VFDR demonstration.
"This model incorporates lessons learned from VFDR," Raytheon says. "However, the requirements haven't been established yet, so the model you see is one of several possibilities in consideration."
Raytheon and Boeing received separate contracts from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) late last year to work on a next generation missile. The triple target terminator (T3) programme is aimed at hitting three types of targets - aircraft, cruise missiles and ground-based radars.