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Raytheon awarded $345 million for StormBreaker missile

5th January 2024 - 15:56 GMT | by Shephard News Team in London

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StormBreaker is cleared for use on F-15s and F/A-18E/F aircraft is being integrated on F-35 variants. (Photo: Raytheon)

The StormBreaker winged munition autonomously can detect and classify moving targets in poor visibility situations caused by darkness, bad weather, smoke or obscured environmental conditions.

Raytheon, an RTX company, has been awarded a US$345 million contract to supply US services with 1,500 StormBreaker (SDBII, GBU-53/B) tri-mode air-to-surface missiles.

The missile has three modes: millimetre wave radar, which detects and tracks targets through weather; imaging infrared, which provides enhanced target discrimination; and semi-active laser, which enables the weapon to track an airborne laser designator or one on the ground.

The multi-mode capability has been designed to allow for operations with less aircraft and the missile has a range of more than 65km.

Paul Ferraro, president of Air Power at Raytheon, said the contract would allow for the further development of the weapon’s production.

‘It is fielded on two platforms with testing underway for others [and] StormBreaker has solidified its place as the leading network enabled weapon across the Department of Defense.’

StormBreaker is fielded on the F-15E Strike Eagle and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet with testing underway on all variants of the F-35. Across the platforms, StormBreaker completed 28 test drops in 2023.

The funding is drawn from across the US Air Force and US Navy budgets with a small amount also from Foreign Military Sales on the contract described as Production Lot 10.