A Raytheon official says the Air Force is mulling how to procure Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles while the service waits for the company to finish upgrades.
"I think it's a balancing act between filling the stores they need with the most advanced missile that we're making today, versus waiting for something that maybe could be upgraded even further down the road," Ron Krebs, senior director for AMRAAM, said in an April 21 phone interview. "I think they're wrestling with that somewhat. We haven't really been given any clear direction in that regard."
Raytheon is finishing delivery of Lot 29 missiles this year and plans to cut in new updates after Lot 32. The Air Force may lower the number of 120D-variant missiles it buys for a few lots while the form, fit, function, refresh obsolescence upgrades known as F3R are completed, Krebs said. He believes that decision could depend on world events and "how important it is to get more 120Ds into their system."
The Air Force declined multiple requests for comment on AMRAAM.
Those considerations come as Congress last week appropriated $337.8 million for Air Force AMRAAM procurement in the fiscal year 2017 omnibus spending bill signed May 5 -- $12.3 million less than was requested because of a "pricing adjustment." Another $62.5 million was allocated for research and development.
The Air Force will buy 256 AIM-120D missiles in Lot 31 this year, according to the service's FY-17 budget documents. Funds will also go toward building and modifying test equipment to support AIM-120D production, updating the missile's data package to make sure its design remains viable, developing the supplier base and addressing problems like obsolescence and manufacturing shortages.
The Air Force awarded a Raytheon a $573 million Lot 30 contract in March 2016, and Krebs expects to see a Lot 31 contract later this fiscal year. A Pentagon selected acquisition report published in March 2016 notes the F3R upgrades, which will offer faster processors and new memory, were planned to cut into the latter part of Lot 31 in FY-19.
"The Lot 28 contract, with priced options for Lots 29 and 30, was awarded on Dec. 22, 2014 for $492 million. Lot 29 contract option was awarded on March 24, 2015 for $529 million," the report stated, later adding: "As of Dec. 31, 2015, Raytheon has delivered 1,498 of 2,074 AIM-120D missiles on contract and has delivered 1,548 of 2,400 AIM-120C7 FMS missiles on contract (through Lot 29)."
Krebs also said the Air Force is considering extending the length of the AIM-120D program of record by at least one lot past Lot 38, which would be delivered in the mid-2020s.
"What we're planning right now is, the F3R configuration would go basically to the end of the program," he said. "We would do some obsolescence updates over time, but we don't really have any plans for any, I'll say, step function and designs or anything like that as we go forward. It'll mostly be in evolutionary upgrades as we take advantage of the processors and [field-programmable gate arrays] that are in the missile."
Krebs added that he expects the program to ramp up somewhat over the next decade and said the company could increase production by about 20 percent. That possibility is also being discussed, he said, but that "it's probably going into the hopper with all the rest of the weapons requests."
"We have been preparing, if possible, to up our rate of production if necessary or asked, and we've certainly gone through those exercises," Krebs said. "Air-to-ground weapons seem to be a little bit more in demand because they've got some shortages, and I think air-to-air is maybe taking a little bit of a backseat to that."
"If you look at the inventory numbers for AMRAAM, they're well below their desired inventory, whatever that means," he continued. "At some point, they will end up increasing the numbers, and we've given the Air Force various proposals on ways that we can increase our production even higher than what we're currently set up for."
Those tweaks could include changes to test equipment, Krebs said.
The Air Force is moving through tests for system improvement programs on the AIM-120D known as SIP-1 and SIP-2, which offer software upgrades and look at aircraft integration and issues found in developmental and operational testing. Operational test for SIP-1 finished in FY-16, according to the annual report from the director of operational test and evaluation released in January. The second SIP is on schedule, Krebs said, and is slated to finish in FY-18.
The March 2016 selected acquisition report stated SIP-1 fielding was projected for the fourth quarter of FY-16, with SIP-2 to be fielded in the first quarter of FY-19 and SIP-3 to come in the first quarter of FY-21.
Krebs did not elaborate on how those tests are progressing but said Raytheon is meeting the necessary requirements to deal with "the latest advanced threats."
On May 2, the Air Force posted a Federal Business Opportunities notice for future AMRAAM program acquisitions from fiscal year 2020 through FY-29, with work ending Sept. 30, 2032. New contracts are expected to encompass: growth in the AIM-120D system improvement programs; changes to software on the AIM-120C3 through C7 missiles; testing and simulation for integration onto the F-15, F-16, F/A-18, F-22, F-35 and foreign platforms; upgrades for test facilities; test laboratory management; and contractor support at missile test sites.
Raytheon deferred to the Air Force when asked for more details on the FBO notice, and the service had no additional information.