US Air Force equips Gulf militaries with Maverick missiles

Published January 29th, 2003 - 03:00 GMT

The US Air Force awarded Raytheon Company a $38.9 million Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contract for Maverick missiles. The contract includes AGM-65 infrared (IR) Maverick missiles, trainers and associated spares for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Bahrain and Taiwan.

Work is to be completed by December 2004 and will be performed primarily at Raytheon Missile Systems. Maverick is a precision, air-to-ground missile that is used against small hard targets, armored vehicles, surface-to-air missile (SAM) sites, and high value targets, such as ships, port facilities and communications centers.

The Maverick has launch-and-leave capability to enable the pilot to lock onto the target, launch the missile and then take evasive action.

There are two versions of the IR Maverick missile: the AGM-65D and AGM- 65G. The AGM-65D variant has an imaging infrared guidance system. The IR seeker presents a TV-like image on the cockpit display as it senses small differences in heat energy between that radiated by target objects and the surrounding background.

The AGM-65D Maverick missile carries a 125-pound shaped charge warhead. The AGM-65G missile essentially uses the same guidance system with some software modifications that enables the missile to track larger targets. This variant carries the 300-pound blast fragmentation warhead with selected fuze delays.

US-based Raytheon, with 2002 sales of $16.8 billion, is an industry developer in defense, government and commercial electronics, space, information technology, technical services, and business and special mission aircraft. — (menareport.com)