Alliant Techsystems, the U.S. Navy, and the Italian Air Force successfully completed another challenging missile firing of the AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) at the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake on August 3, 2008.

The missile test firing was the first of two "Operational Assessment" firings supporting Milestone C Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) decision later this calendar year.

The AARGM was launched off-axis at medium altitude from an FA-18D Hornet. In the operationally-realistic scenario, AARGM successfully demonstrated capability against sophisticated counter-ARM (anti-radiation missile) measures, discriminating the air defense system target in a cluttered environment and guiding to lethal range.

During the profile, AARGM used its precision navigation to stay clear of designated impact avoidance zones, a key feature employed to prevent engagement of sensitive, neutral, or friendly regions. The firing demonstrated the weapon system's maturity and provided critical data in support of the upcoming Milestone C LRIP decision.

"The result demonstrates the versatility and lethality of AARGM in the presence of threat tactics that defeat legacy Suppression of Enemy Air Defense (SEAD) weapons," said Dave Wise, General Manager and Vice President for ATK Advanced Weapons.

"AARGM delivers an affordable, lethal Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses (DEAD) capability for U.S., Italian, and potentially other Allied Forces through the upgrade of legacy AGM-88 weapons."