The U.S. Air Force and Raytheon, an RTX business, have finished the initial flight test of the AIM-120C-8 missile.

Fired from an F-15C Eagle, this international edition of the AMRAAM missile successfully eliminated the aerial target and achieved each of the assessment’s primary objectives, RTX announced from Tucson, Arizona on Friday.

Paul Ferraro, president of air power at Raytheon highlighted AMRAAM’s combat-proven capabilities and noted its use by over 40 international partners for both air-to-air and surface to air missions.

AIM-120C-8 was developed under the Form, Fit, Function refresh. With this method, engineers used model-based systems engineering programs and additional digital technologies to improve multiple circuit cards and modern processors in the missile’s guidance segment and to re-host preceding software from the AIM-120D-3 and AIM-120C-8 AMRAAMS.

“With the advancements from F3R, which updates both the missile’s hardware and allows for future Agile software upgrades, we are maximizing the capabilities of this munition for allies around the world,” Ferraro said.

The team also recently completed the flight testing of the AIM-120D-3, which concluded only 11 months after its first flight test with a demonstration of the weapon’s capabilities in a contested environment.

In June, Raytheon received a $1.15 billion AMRAAM contract from the Air Force to manufacture AIM-120-D3 and C-8 missiles for the service branch and U.S. Navy as well as 18 other nations, including Ukraine.

According to Defense Logistics Agency Vice Director Brad Bunn, pre-positioning supplies and building a strong supply chain are critical to the success of logistics operations in contested environments.

During a panel discussion at the National Defense Industrial Association’s Emerging Technologies for Defense Conference in Washington, D.C., Bunn emphasized the pressing need to increase supply chain resilience and called for heavy collaboration with industry throughout the process, the Department of Defense said Friday.

Bunn highlighted DLA efforts to embrace artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing methods and research and development to strengthen and scale logistics capabilities. The agency, he said, is running a “moderate research and development program” to address supply chain gaps and security threats.

“Most of that started with working with industry partners and R&D organizations to help buy down some risk of obsolescence for legacy weapons systems where we saw commercial capabilities wane and where we had to bring to bear some resources to buy down that risk in things like microelectronics,” Bunn said.

The agency has also prioritized addressing cyberattacks, which present a growing threat to logistics operations, as part of its supply chain security strategy. The significance of cybersecurity risks was demonstrated by the Colonial Pipeline attack, which pushed the DLA to consider how it could transport fuel to the east coast using other methods.

Described by Bunn as a DLA “superpower,” the Defense Working Capital Fund is another aspect of the DLA’s strategy. This revolving fund, he said, is used to cover the agency’s operating costs beyond the annual budgeting process using sales.

Bunn noted the strong partnerships it has formed within the defense industrial base as a key component of the agency’s success.

“It’s really about building those relationships with industry, putting those contracts in place and supplying our customers – the military service warfighters – with those common items of supply and some not-so-common items,” he said, adding that partnerships with the U.S. Transportation Command and international agreements have also helped the agency progress its mission.

Want to learn more about how the DOD is gearing up to tackle the challenges of the contested logistics era? Join leaders from both government and industry at the Potomac Officers Club’s Preparing for the Contested Logics Era Forum on September 14, where speakers and expert panelists will come together to consider how the United States can stay on top in contested logistics. To learn more and register to attend the event, click here.

The U.S. Air Force’s innovation arm has conducted the first autonomous test flight of the Osprey MK III unmanned aerial system at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida under a testbed demonstration for autonomous technologies and capabilities.

Test operators launched Osprey MK III before the aircraft switched control to onboard autonomy and independently flew around designated airspace located at Duke Field as part of AFWERX’s Autonomy, Data and AI Experimentation Proving Ground effort, Air Force Materiel Command reported Wednesday.

The onboard autonomy was designed to fly MK III outside the user-defined airspace boundary constraints. It disengages and sends the UAS to a safe remediation point each time it is about to violate the airspace boundary.

The autonomy watchdog feature is part of the Test of Autonomy in Complex Environments, the software component of the Autonomy Prime Environment for Experimentation, which is a subset of ADAx.

ADAx is a joint venture between AFWERX and the Department of Defense’s Chief Digital and AI Office.

The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division will partner with SPARC Research on enhancing missile range and capability for warfighters over a three-year period.

SPARC said Wednesday the team will aim to boost the performance of solid rocket motors and air-breathing engines under a cooperative research and development agreement.

“We are honored to be working with SPARC Research to enable us to cooperatively develop, build, test and effectively transition emerging propulsion technologies to future weapon development programs,” said Matthew Gross, principal investigator at NAWCWD.

Based in Warrenton, Virginia, SPARC works to advance rocket and airbreathing technologies, spanning from development and initial design to prototype presentation. The company also collaborates with propulsion suppliers, missile prime contractors and government laboratories.