Hughes Missile Deliveries Halted : Defense: The Air Force action against the firm and Raytheon comes in the wake of the weapon’s failure in recent tests.
The Air Force said Friday that it has ordered Hughes Aircraft and Raytheon to suspend deliveries of the advanced medium range air-to-air missile, an action prompted by failures of the missile in recent tests.
Hughes officials characterized the suspension as only a “minor” setback to the program, in which the Air Force and the Navy are planning to buy 24,000 of the Amraam missiles at an estimated cost of $9 billion.
But critics cited the action as confirmation that the missile has serious reliability problems and predicted that the suspension would again delay a Pentagon decision to put the missile into full-scale production. The Air Force said the suspension of deliveries will not stop current low-rate production of the missile.
The 12-foot-long missile, long dogged by controversy over its cost and effectiveness, is produced by Hughes Aircraft at its Tucson, Ariz., plant and by Raytheon. The missile is intended as the Pentagon’s major medium-range missile for use in aircraft dog fights, but it is not yet being used in the field.
The failures in recent tests resulted when the missile was carried on the fuselage of the F-15 jet fighter. Unlike other aircraft that carry the missile, the F-15’s configuration causes severe aerodynamic turbulence that puts the entire missile under stress and literally shakes it to the breaking point.
Hughes officials believe that the missile meets all of its contractual specifications and that the failures result from vibrations that exceed Air Force estimates. If that is the case, it is not clear what legal basis the Air Force used to stop deliveries, but Hughes officials said they were “going along” with the Air Force’s wishes. The service did not suspend contract payments on the program.
The Air Force statement said the missile has had a 77% success rate in more than 100 flight test launches, “far better than other missiles at this stage of development.” In a test shot Friday, a missile successfully overcame electronic jamming and destroyed a drone with its warhead, the statement said.
But the statement also disclosed that F-15 tests were not going well. The problem with aerodynamic turbulence has been known for more than a year, and the service thought it had developed a solution. But recent tests disclosed “vibrations worse than expected,” the statement said.
Rep. Denny Smith (R-Ore.), a longstanding Amraam critic, said the Air Force suspension was a “step in the right direction” and “means that the Air Force is finally serious about bringing this program into line.”
Smith said the deficiencies were so serious that it could prompt a significant redesign of the missile, adding, “If it shakes itself to pieces on the airplane, we have no use for it in combat.”
