The US has received its 250th Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) MK49 Guided-Missile Launching System, a product of its long-standing bilateral partnership with Germany.
The US has received its 250th Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) MK49 Guided-Missile Launching System, a product of its long-standing bilateral partnership with Germany.
It is set for integration into the US Navy’s USS Pittsburgh, a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock currently undergoing construction by Huntington Ingalls Industries.
Raytheon is the prime contractor for the RAM program in collaboration with its German industrial partner, RAM-Systems GmbH.
Barbara Borgonovi, president of Naval Power at Raytheon, described the missile system as a “cornerstone of naval defense capabilities for decades,” with the 250th delivery attesting to its crucial role in US and allied defense.
Rolling Airframe Missile
The RAM carries a 10-kilogram (22 pounds) blast fragmentation warhead, travels at supersonic speed with a range of 9 kilometers (5.6 miles), and features passive radio frequency and infrared guidance for stealthy and precise target engagement.
It is a fire-and-forget weapon designed for easy integration in vessels of various sizes, from 220-foot (67-meter) corvettes to 1,100-foot (335-meter) nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, for protection against evolving aerial threats.
Apart from the MK49 RAM launcher, the surface-to-air missile can also be deployed from the MK15 Mod 32 SeaRAM close-in weapon system.
