Raytheon To Build Mini-Missile Interceptor For Aircraft Self-Defense

Steve Trimble July 21, 2020

A typical fighter’s defensive suite today includes a self-protection jammer, chaff and a fiber-optic towed decoy for radar-guided threats. Flares are available for heat-seeking munitions. Despite that arsenal of defensive capability, it still might not be enough. A new class of dual-band air-intercept missiles poses a unique challenge. A jamming technique may work against a seeker in one frequency band, but a dual-band seeker simply can switch to another to avoid being disrupted by the target’s onboard jammer. The solution could be the Miniature Self-Defense Munition (MSDM), a powered-missile one-third the size of an AIM-9 Sidewinder. The Air Force Research Laboratory plans to demonstrate that a MSDM can work within four years. Credit: Air Force Research Laboratory

Raytheon will deliver a “flight-test ready” version of a miniature munition designed to protect military aircraft from incoming missiles under a contract with a $375 million ceiling awarded July 21 by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The Miniature Self-Defense Munition (MSDM) is...

Steve Trimble

Steve covers military aviation, missiles and space for the Aviation Week Network, based in Washington DC.

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