US approves $211 million AMRAAM missile sale to Italy

Washington: The US State Department has approved the potential sale of 70 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) to Italy.

The approval follows a request from the Italian government for the purchase of 30 AIM-120D-3 and 40 AIM-120C-8 AMRAAMs and related equipment and services for an estimated $211 million.

“The proposed sale will improve Italy’s capability to meet current and future threats by ensuring Italy has modern, capable air-to-air munitions,” the Defense Security Cooperation Agency wrote.

“It will also advance United States interoperability with NATO and the Italian Armed Forces.

Italy already has AMRAAMs in its inventory and will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces.”

RTX Corporation is the proposed deal’s principal contractor and there is no known offset agreement proposed.

The latest AMRAAM variant, the AIM-120D-3, features the form, fit, and function (F3) hardware refresh that modernizes the previous variant’s guidance section to address obsolescence issues.

The ‘D-3’ variant is a replacement for the AIM-120D and incorporates System Improvement Program (SIP)-3F software for improvement in the guidance section, range, and performance.

The AIM-120C-8 is AMRAAM’s export-only variant and features the F3 hardware refresh but with different software. Both variants have an estimated range of 160 kilometers (99 miles).