Farnborough 2024: RTX touts Stormbreaker record, prioritises newest AMRAAM production

A stormbreaker precision-strike weapon on display at Farnborough 2024. (Janes/Tom Barton)

RTX company Ratheon announced a 100% success rate in 28 tests of its Stormbreaker air-to-surface precision-strike weapon, at the Farnborough International Airshow 2024, which runs from 22 to 26 July.

Fourteen successful tests were conducted with F-35C aircraft. Fourteen other successful tests were conducted with the F/A-18E/F, F-15E, and F-35B across the US Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force.

Among the design aims of Stormbreaker was solving the problem of adverse weather conditions such as fog, smoke, and rain interfering with air-to-surface missiles on their way to targets.

Paul Ferraro, president of Air and Space Defense Systems at Raytheon, told Janes the weapon is their first to include millimetre (also known as millimetric) wave radar as part of its ‘tri-mode seeker', which also uses infrared seeking. It was “not trivial” to get the millimetric seeker in, Ferraro added.

The weapons also has the capability to receive updated target co-ordinates mid flight via a two-way datalink.

Ferraro said RTX is producing around 1,100 Stormbreakers per year, and is under contract to supply 1,700.

Under pressure from demands of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) air-defence batteries in Ukraine, and global orders, Ferraro said that RTX was now only producing the latest D-3 and C-8 versions of its anti-aircraft AIM-120 Advanced Medium‐Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs).