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.
Other countries operating the RAM system include Egypt, Greece, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Qatar, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.
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.
