Fourth country purchases latest version of Raytheon missile, 5,000 unit production run estimated

The government of Denmark and the U.S. Navy have formally executed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) paving the way for the manufacture and delivery of the AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile system to the Royal Danish Air Force.

The LOA was signed in June 2004 in Denmark. Denmark is the fourth country to purchase the latest version of the proven AIM-9 Sidewinder missile family. The Republic of South Korea, Poland and Switzerland have also agreed to purchase the missile to arm their frontline fighter aircraft.

"We are delighted that the Royal Danish Air Force will be armed with the world's finest short range air-to-air missile, the AIM-9X," said U.S. Navy Capt. Scott Stewart, the Naval Air Systems Command program manager for air-to-air missile systems.  "Equipping our allied war fighters with this exceptional missile will ensure allied counterair supremacy and mission success while continuing to strengthen critical interoperability."

The AIM-9X is a fifth generation short range missile that achieved initial operational capability with the U.S. Air Force in November 2003.  The missile employs a staring focal plane array seeker head with an extremely high off-boresight acquisition capability that significantly increases target acquisition ranges against all forms of background clutter.  The AIM-9X is unparalleled in its ability to defeat targets employing infra-red counter-measure techniques.

The combination of the seeker's high off-boresight capability and rocket motor thrust vectoring via jet vane control produces an extremely agile missile with revolutionary dogfight ability.  An 18-year production run is planned, producing more than 10,000 missiles for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and an additional 5,000 missiles for the international market.

FMI: www.raytheon.com