Raytheon has conducted the first test launch of the latest AMRAAM (Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile) variant over Sweden’s Vidsel test range. The firing, in the last days of May, was the first for the AIM-120C5 to be conducted outside the United States. The missile was launched by a JAS 39 Gripen. The far northern RFN Vidsel range has become a favored location for Raytheon because, apart from about 640 square miles of uninhabited space, it can offer a secure U.S.-approved intranet connection that allows companies like Raytheon to handle classified data in a closed loop. The very first AMRAAM trials outside the U.S. were conducted at Vidsel in 1998, again with the Gripen as the launch platform.
The AIM-120C5 testing will, in turn, feed into the Gripen program. The C5 variant is the latest production version and is the weapon that will be acquired by Hungary, and probably the Czech Republic also, to equip their Gripen aircraft. The Gripen is already AMRAAM-compatible but needs a small trial effort to fully qualify the C-model missile. — Robert Hewson
