RTX (formerly Raytheon) has received a $156-million contract to deliver AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapons to Bahrain and the US Navy.
According to the contract announcement, 47 air-to-ground missiles will be produced for the Royal Bahraini Air Force, while six will be handed over to the US Navy to serve as replacement in kind.
All missiles under contract will be in the latest Block III C variant to support modern day missions.
In addition to the weapons, RTX will provide containers, test supplies, engineering technical services, and associated training support.
The majority of the work for the contract will be performed in Arizona, with an expected completion date of March 2028.
A ‘Precision Strike’ Weapon
Originally developed for the US military, the AGM-154 is the first air-launched, network-enabled weapon fitted on fourth- and fifth-generation fighter aircraft.
It reportedly performs precision strikes at up to 63 nautical miles (117 kilometers) when launched from an altitude of 40,000 feet (12.2 kilometers).
It leverages a highly-integrated GPS-inertial navigation system and a thermal imaging infrared seeker to effectively hit targets.
Weighing 1,000 pounds (453 kilograms), the missile can carry various lethal packages, such as AGM-154A bomblets, P3I BLU-108 sensor-fused-weapon submunitions, and a AGM-154C multi-stage warhead.
Latest Upgrade
In June last year, RTX announced that it is updating the technical data package and software for the AGM-154C missile.
Bahrain, Canada, and Taiwan are said to benefit from the modernization.
During that time, Manama had ordered an undisclosed number of AGM-154s to be equipped on its future F-16 fleet.
The upgrade included adding a weapon data link radio and modified seeker software to bolster the weapon’s anti-surface warfare missions.
