Latest news with #SamDeneke
Business Insider
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
AIM-120 missile demand is surging. The Pentagon just signed a $3.5 billion deal to keep up.
The Pentagon just inked a record $3.5 billion deal with RTX for AIM-120 air-to-air missiles. It's a massive order that underscores how global conflicts are stressing stockpiles and dramatically increasing demand for key munitions. Demand for the AMRAAM has been growing amid global crises like the war in Ukraine and fights in the Middle East. The massive deal, which was part of a total $7.8 billion awarded to Lockheed Martin and RTX for missile production, was signed late last month. Other systems in the contracts include Lockheed Martin's Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM). The AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, or AMRAAM, award was especially notable, not only for its size but the number of allies and partners that will receive the missile. The Foreign Military Sales portion of the massive contract includes Japan, Canada, Germany, the UK, and Ukraine, RTX told Business Insider. The Department of Defense contract details identified sales to 19 allies and partners. It also comes less than a year after a $1.2 billion contract for the AMRAAM, another record-breaking deal that followed a $1.15 billion deal in 2023. These three deals point to a demand to refill and expand stockpiles. "As global conflicts intensify and air threats become more sophisticated, AMRAAM continues to give allied forces a decisive edge in combat," said Sam Deneke, the president of Air & Space Defense Systems at Raytheon, said in a statement. The AIM-120 has seen use in Ukraine, with both Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets and Norway's Kongsberg Defense and Raytheon's National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS). The AMRAAM has also seen use in the Middle East by the US planes battling the Houthis and other threats. These conflicts pull from US and allied stockpiles. The weapon is an all-weather, beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile with active radar for decreased dependence on the aircraft for intercepts. There are multiple variants of the AIM-120. The newest one is the AIM-120D, which has a reported range exceeding 100 miles. It's highly useful for taking out air threats like uncrewed aerial vehicles and drones, but it's also an expensive tradeoff, with each AIM-120 costing around $1 million. The US has pursued alternatives to taking out these threats, and military officials have acknowledged that the need for more cost-effective answers. Part of the demand for the AIM-120 is that it's a highly desired system by militaries around the world. It is an essential weapon as countries consider air dominance and defense demands in modern warfighting. Despite many other investments in air-to-air systems, "the AIM-120 AMRAAM series remains and likely will remain the backbone of Western and Western-aligned air-to-air weaponry for many years to come," Justin Bronk, an airpower expert at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, told Business Insider. RTX highlighted that the AMRAAM is used on 14 different platforms, including fighter aircraft and surface-to-air missile systems, in 44 countries and is combat-proven. Global usage of the missile, Bronk said, has far outpaced production, making the new contract not only important for filling stockpiles but also increasing production capacity. Decades of steady usage have left stockpiles thin, with lawmakers in Washington expressing concern about existing stocks. Among other efforts to boost the numbers, the US and Japan are now considering co-production of the AIM-120 to help close the gap.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A new radar, the most advanced of its kind, is joining the US defense against hypersonic missiles
Raytheon, a division of RTX, announced its new upgraded radar for hypersonic missile defense. The company said on Monday it delivered the radar to the US Missile Defense Agency. Hypersonic weapons are fast with unpredictable flight patterns that challenge current missile defenses. Raytheon has given the US Missile Defense Agency a new radar, the most advanced of its kind, that it says can support the difficult mission of defending against hypersonic weapons. The radar is one of the latest examples of how the US is working to strengthen its air defenses against more advanced threats like hypersonic weapons, which are nearly impossible to intercept with current systems. Raytheon, an RTX Corporation business, announced on Monday the delivery of its first upgraded AN/TPY-2 missile defense radar featuring a Gallium Nitride (GaN) populated array. These radars are able to detect, track, and discriminate ballistic missiles in multiple phases of flight. The latest upgrade improves the sensitivity and range of the radar and expands its surveillance capabilities. "The radar also features the latest CX6 high-performance computing software that offers more precise target discrimination and electronic attack protection," Raytheon said in a release. Some experts have noted the game-changing use of GaN semiconductor technology in enhancing radars, radio frequency sensing, and other communication platforms. Multiple big players in the defense industry have been working on GaN-based capabilities, especially for upgrading sensors and weapons systems. Last fall, Raytheon began production of the GaN-empowered Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense System (LTAMDS) with the Army, designing it to ultimately replace the current Patriot missile defense system radars. Raytheon's new version of the AN/TPY-2 is the most advanced it's built, said Sam Deneke, president of Air and Space Defense Systems at Raytheon, per the release. "As demand increases for missile defense of the homeland, the AN/TPY-2 radar is ready to meet the mission." US military officials have been pushing for more capabilities to defend against hypersonics for years now. They're daunting weapons due to a hypersonic missile's ability to fly low, fast, and maneuver along unpredictable flight paths that make them far more difficult to intercept than already challenging ballistic missiles that fly the predictable parabolic arcs. Both China and Russia, key US rivals, possess hypersonic missiles in their arsenals. US-made air defenses have defeated Russia's advanced Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missile, sometimes questionably touted as hypersonic weaponry. But defending against weapons more accurately identified by that name, such as China's DF-17 missile equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle or Russia's Zircon scramjet-powered hypersonic cruise missile, could prove more difficult, though Ukraine has claimed to have defeated the Zircon. Though the weapons may not be unstoppable, they represent a much more challenging threat, and this technology is continuing to advance. China's expansion of its missile arsenal has raised concerns about the vulnerability of US forces and strategic allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region. Washington lawmakers and US military leaders have repeatedly said that American forces lack the active and passive defenses needed to defend against a substantial Chinese missile bombardment that could include hypersonic weapons. But efforts are underway to strengthen these defenses. Last year, for instance, the US and Japan announced plans to jointly develop a hypersonic missile defense system as part of a Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI) Cooperative Development (GCD) Project Arrangement that aims to intercept a hypersonic weapon in its glide phase of flight. And more recently, the Trump administration began pursuing a new "Iron Dome for America," now called the "Golden Dome," because, as the president said in a January executive order, "the threat of attack by ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles, and other advanced aerial attacks, remains the most catastrophic threat facing the United States." Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
20-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
A newly upgraded radar, the most advanced of its kind, is joining the US defense against hypersonic missiles
Raytheon has given the US Missile Defense Agency a new radar, the most advanced of its kind, that it says can support the difficult mission of defending against hypersonic weapons. The radar is one of the latest examples of how the US is working to strengthen its air defenses against more advanced threats like hypersonic weapons, which are nearly impossible to intercept with current systems. Raytheon, an RTX Corporation business, announced on Monday the delivery of its first upgraded AN/TPY-2 missile defense radar featuring a Gallium Nitride (GaN) populated array. These radars are able to detect, track, and discriminate ballistic missiles in multiple phases of flight. The latest upgrade improves the sensitivity and range of the radar and expands its surveillance capabilities. "The radar also features the latest CX6 high-performance computing software that offers more precise target discrimination and electronic attack protection," Raytheon said in a release. Some experts have noted the game-changing use of GaN semiconductor technology in enhancing radars, radio frequency sensing, and other communication platforms. Multiple big players in the defense industry have been working on GaN-based capabilities, especially for upgrading sensors and weapons systems. Last fall, Raytheon began production of the GaN-empowered Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense System (LTAMDS) with the Army, designing it to ultimately replace the current Patriot missile defense system radars. Raytheon's new version of the AN/TPY-2 is the most advanced it's built, said Sam Deneke, president of Air and Space Defense Systems at Raytheon, per the release. "As demand increases for missile defense of the homeland, the AN/TPY-2 radar is ready to meet the mission." US military officials have been pushing for more capabilities to defend against hypersonics for years now. They're daunting weapons due to a hypersonic missile's ability to fly low, fast, and maneuver along unpredictable flight paths that make them far more difficult to intercept than already challenging ballistic missiles that fly the predictable parabolic arcs. Both China and Russia, key US rivals, possess hypersonic missiles in their arsenals. US-made air defenses have defeated Russia's advanced Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missile, sometimes questionably touted as hypersonic weaponry. But defending against weapons more accurately identified by that name, such as China's DF-17 missile equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle or Russia's Zircon scramjet-powered hypersonic cruise missile, could prove more difficult, though Ukraine has claimed to have defeated the Zircon. Though the weapons may not be unstoppable, they represent a much more challenging threat, and this technology is continuing to advance. China's expansion of its missile arsenal has raised concerns about the vulnerability of US forces and strategic allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region. Washington lawmakers and US military leaders have repeatedly said that American forces lack the active and passive defenses needed to defend against a substantial Chinese missile bombardment that could include hypersonic weapons. But efforts are underway to strengthen these defenses. Last year, for instance, the US and Japan announced plans to jointly develop a hypersonic missile defense system as part of a Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI) Cooperative Development (GCD) Project Arrangement that aims to intercept a hypersonic weapon in its glide phase of flight. And more recently, the Trump administration began pursuing a new " Iron Dome for America," now called the "Golden Dome," because, as the president said in a January executive order, "the threat of attack by ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles, and other advanced aerial attacks, remains the most catastrophic threat facing the United States."
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
RTX Corporation (RTX) Delivers Advanced Missile Defense Radar with GaN Technology
On May 19, RTX Corporation (NYSE:RTX) announced that its Raytheon business delivered the first AN/TPY-2 radar to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency with a complete Gallium Nitride (GaN) populated array. The missile defense radar will defend the United States and its allies by tracking, detecting, and discriminating against ballistic missiles. The latest radar version featuring GaN technology will expand surveillance capacity, offer greater sensitivity to increase range, and support hypersonic missile defense. The radar also integrates the latest CX6 high-performance computing software, which will provide electronic attack protection and enhance target discrimination. Sam Deneke, President of Air and Space Defense Systems at RTX Corporation (NYSE:RTX)'s Raytheon, stated the following: "This is the most advanced version of AN/TPY-2 that Raytheon has built, leveraging years of investment and innovation to produce superior capability at a lower cost to the U.S. armed forces. As demand increases for missile defense of the homeland, the AN/TPY-2 radar is ready to meet the mission." RTX Corporation (NYSE:RTX)'s shares have surged by nearly 19% year-to-date, on the back of positive recent developments such as these and several high-value defense contract awards. While we acknowledge the potential of RTX as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than RTX and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: 10 Best Drone Stocks to Buy According to Billionaires and 11 Best American Defense Stocks to Buy Now. Disclosure: None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
