Northrop Grumman, one of the biggest U.S. defense contractors, has received a new U.S. Navy AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) missiles contract.

The U.S. Navy awarded Northrop Grumman for Lot 9 full-rate production (FRP) of the AGM-88E AARGM missiles in March, according to a company news release.

Assets will include all-up round missiles and captive air training missiles for the U.S. Navy and foreign military sales.

“AARGM provides the U.S. Navy and allies unmatched protection to detect and defeat surface-to-air-threats regardless of threat tactics and capabilities,” said Gordon Turner, vice president, advanced weapons, Northrop Grumman.

On December 2019, Northrop Grumman has celebrated the milestone delivery of the 1000th AGM-88E missile.

A ceremony at the Northrop Grumman production facility in Northridge, California, commemorated the occasion. Attendees at the event included U.S. Navy senior officers, civilians, industry partners and past and present employees working on the program.

Northrop Grumman’s AARGM is a supersonic, air-launched tactical missile system, upgrading legacy AGM-88 HARM systems with advanced capability to perform suppression and destruction of enemy air defense missions.  AARGM is the most advanced system for pilots against today’s modern surface-to-air threats. It is able to rapidly engage land- and sea-based air-defense threats, as well as striking, time-sensitive targets.

AARGM is a U.S. Navy and Italian Air Force international cooperative major defense acquisition program with the U.S. Navy as the executive agent. AARGM is currently deployed and supporting operational requirements for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. The missile is integrated into the weapons systems on the FA-18C/D Hornet, FA-18E/F Super Hornet, EA-18G Growler aircraft and the Tornado Electronic Combat and Reconnaissance (ECR) aircraft utilized by the Italian Air Force.