The US Marine Corps conducted trial of surface-launched AMRAAM missiles during 1997, demonstrating intercept ranges of over 15 km. In April 2001, the Marines awarded Raytheon a contract for the development of the Complementary Low-Altitude Weapon System (CLAWS), with Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace as a subcontractor and Boeing as the developer of fire and control shelter. In 2006, the USMC terminated the CLAWS program as part of spending cuts.[2]
In February 2004, the US Army Aviation and Missile Command awarded Raytheon a contract to develop SL-AMRAAM. In 2007-2008, Raytheon successfully tested launching AMRAAM missiles from a six-missile launch rails on a M1097 Humvee.[2] They also added the capability to fire AIM-9X Sidewinder from the launcher. The missiles receive their initial guidance information from a radar not mounted on the vehicle.
In 2008, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has requested the purchasing of SLAMRAAM as part of a larger 7 billion dollar foreign military sales package; the sale would include 288 AMRAAM C-7 missiles.[3]
In 2009 the US Army test fired the SL-AMRAAM from a HIMARS artillery rocket launcher as a common launcher, as part of a move to switch to a larger and more survivable launch platform.[4][5]
Since the missile is launched without the benefit of an aircraft's speed or high altitude, its range is considerably shorter.[citation needed] Although the engagement range for AMRAAM is estimated to be 75km for AIM-120B and over 105km for AIM-120C-5, these ranges are provided for head-on encounters by fast moving aircraft at an altitude, and the range is significantly shorter when the same missiles are launched from stationary ground platforms. Further dimensioning for a stationary ground-launched-missile system is its maximum altitude reach, which by rule of thumb is one third of its maximum horizontal range.[citation needed]
Cancellation
On January 6, 2011, Secretary of DefenseRobert Gates announced that the U.S. Army has decided to terminate acquisition of the SLAMRAAM as part of a budget-cutting effort.[6]
The National Guard Association of the United States has sent a letter asking for the United States Senate to stop the Army's plan to drop the SLAMRAAM program because without it there would be no path to modernize the Guard's AN/TWQ-1 Avenger Battalions.[7]
High Mobility Launcher
A more recent version of the SLAMRAAM program is the NASAMS High Mobility Launcher made in cooperation with Kongsberg, where the launch-vehicle is a Humvee (M1152A1 HMMWV), containing four AMRAAMs and two AIM-9X Sidewinder Block II each.[8] First HML launchers were delivered to the Norwegian Army in 2013.
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